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Breaking the Stained Glass Ceiling: The Story of Pope Joan
And how she fooled the world
There are surprisingly few requirements for someone to become the Pope. Unlike other offices, such as the presidency, there are no age requirements or experience requirements. Any male can be ordained in the Catholic Church as long as they have been baptized.
Canon Law states:
Can. 1024 A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly.
These loose requirements have led to some strange people becoming the Pope, including one man who could not read Latin (which was a major detriment to his papacy) and one man who was declared deranged and abandoned by his Cardinals. (Since 1379, every pope has been chosen from the College of Cardinals after a series of unsavory popes ruined it for everyone.)
One firm requirement for the papacy is that the elected pontiff must be a male. There has only been one exception to this rule. A 9th-century woman was rumored to have risen to the highest office of the church, and that same church spent centuries trying to quash the rumor as false. Her name was Joan, and her legend is equal parts inspiring and salacious.
