Pope Clement XI

About Pope Clement XI

Pope Clement XI, reigning from 1700 to 1721, was a significant religious figure whose influence is reflected in his #833 ranking in MIT's Historical Popularity Index. As pontiff during a complex period in European politics, he played a key role in the consolidation of papal authority in the face of rising secular powers. His tenure included presiding over the bull Unigenitus, a major doctrinal statement concerning Jansenism, which caused considerable controversy within the Catholic Church for decades following his death.

Despite this historical importance, the modern internet shows a considerable gap in attention: Pope Clement XI garnered only 90K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This level of attention is markedly low relative to his historical standing, resulting in an Attention Gap multiplier of -4x, indicating significant underattention. For context, this is substantially less attention than that paid to other religious figures like Mahavira (#943 importance) who achieved 501K views in the same year, suggesting Clement XI is much less visible in the digital realm than figures of comparable historical weight in his field.

While his overall interest level is low, his recent trajectory shows a substantial Year-over-Year increase of +83.2% in 2025, suggesting a potential resurgence in scholarly or popular interest, though this momentum slightly dipped by -7% between Q1 and Q3 of that year.