Pope Pius VI

About Pope Pius VI

Pope Pius VI, born Giovanni Angelo Braschi, served as the head of the Catholic Church from 1775 until his death in 1799. His papacy coincided with the tumultuous era of the French Revolution, which profoundly impacted the Church’s temporal power and status in Europe. His key historical significance stems from his resistance to the revolutionary anti-clerical movements and his eventual capture and death in French custody, marking a major clash between the papacy and the rising tide of secular, revolutionary politics. This context places him at rank #590 in historical importance according to the Pantheon project.

Despite this substantial historical ranking, the internet's attention in 2025 does not reflect this importance. Pope Pius VI accrued approximately 131K annualized Wikipedia views this year. This figure places him in a clear state of underattention, represented by an Attention Gap of -3x when compared to his HPI rank. For contrast, Brigham Young, another religious figure with a lower importance ranking of #947, commands nearly 21 times the modern online visibility with 2.7 million views in 2025.

Interestingly, this underattention is set against a backdrop of recent interest, as his pageviews show a strong year-over-year change of +89.4%. However, this recent growth appears to be slowing, indicated by a -29% drop in momentum between the first and third quarters of 2025, suggesting that whatever event spurred recent interest may be fading.