Pope Adrian VI

About Pope Adrian VI

Pope Adrian VI, born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens, holds a significant, if brief, place in religious history, having served as Pope from 1522 until his death in 1523. He is notable as the only non-Italian pope between the 14th and 19th centuries and was also the last pope elected before the widespread turmoil of the Protestant Reformation, a challenge he confronted directly in his short tenure. This historical context is why the Pantheon project ranks him at #549 in overall influence among global figures.

Despite this relatively high historical ranking, Pope Adrian VI commands modest attention on the modern internet, registering 159K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This places him in a clear state of underattention, with an Attention Gap of -2x relative to his importance. For comparison, the figure Francis Xavier, another religious figure with a lower historical rank of #995, garners 435K views, more than double what Adrian VI receives.

Interestingly, Adrian VI is currently experiencing a volatile level of interest; while his views have surged by +142.9% year-over-year, his recent momentum from Q1 to Q3 in 2025 shows a significant drop of -49%, suggesting recent spikes in interest may be waning.