Pope Paul IV

About Pope Paul IV

Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa in 1476, was a pivotal religious figure whose career culminated in his 1555 election as Pope. He is historically ranked #936 in influence by MIT's Pantheon project, largely due to his vigorous role in the Counter-Reformation. As Pope, he instituted the Roman Inquisition with expanded powers and established the infamous *Index Librorum Prohibitorum*, a comprehensive list of banned books intended to safeguard Catholic doctrine against the spread of Protestantism and other perceived heresies.

In the modern digital landscape of 2025, Pope Paul IV receives significantly less attention than his historical stature suggests. His pageviews total a modest 91K, placing him in a clear state of underattention relative to his importance, reflected in his -3x Attention Gap score. To contextualize this, he garners far fewer views than other religious figures like Brigham Young, who sees 2.7 million views despite a very similar historical importance ranking (#947).

Despite the low overall view count, Paul IV is showing signs of increased contemporary interest, evidenced by a substantial 77.6% year-over-year increase in Wikipedia views, alongside positive 2025 momentum of +11% between Q1 and Q3. This suggests specific, recent historical or cultural relevance may be driving a modest but accelerating digital rediscovery.