Pope Urban X is a fictional

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

created by French writer

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

in his 1759 novel '' Candide''. Voltaire did this in order to avoid any consequences that would be incurred upon him, for in ''Candide'' Pope Urban X has an illegitimate child. In Chapter 11 an old woman declares herself to be the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

. (Voltaire was being particularly cautious, since at the time and (as of 2023) the highest numbered Pope Urban was the eighth). An 1829 edition of ''Candide'' was the first to add a posthumous footnote by Voltaire to the page where this child is mentioned.

''"Notice how exceedingly discreet our author is. There has so far been no Pope called Urban X. He hesitates to ascribe a bastard to an actual Pope. What Discretion! What a tender conscience he shows!"''

This issue may have been slightly distorted in the BBC's 1973 dramatisation of ''Candide'', where Voltaire says ironically "Observe that the name of the Pope has been chosen completely at random", which viewers may have taken as implying that this was a genuine Pope who was a womaniser. (See

Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wo ...

References

{{Candide Urban 10 Candide