Pope Adrian VI (Latin: Hadrianus VI, Dutch: Adrianus VI), born Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens (2 March 1459 – 14 September 1523), served as the 218th Pope of the Catholic Church from 9 January 1522 until his death on 14 September 1523, 1 year and 248 days later. Pope Adrian VI was born in the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht in the Low Countries, and he was the last non-Italian Pope until Pope John Paul II, 455 years later, and is, together with Pope Marcellus II, one of only two modern popes to retain his baptismal name after election.

Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens was born on 2 March 1459 in the city of Utrecht, which was then the capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, a part of the Burgundian Netherlands in the Holy Roman Empire. He was born in into modest circumstances as the son of Florens Boeyens van Utrecht, also born in Utrecht, and his wife Gertruid. He is often called a 'German pope', because prior to the 16th-century national identity in the Low Countries was fledgling and 'Dutch' and 'German' were not yet distinct concepts.

Pope Adrian IV (c. 1100 – 1 September 1159), born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.

Adrian IV has been the only Englishman so far to occupy the papal chair. It is generally believed that Nicholas Breakspear was born at Breakspear Farm in the parish of Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire and received his early education at the Abbey School, St Albans (St Albans School).

His father was Robert, who later became a monk at St Albans. Nicholas himself, however, was refused admission to the monastery, being told by the abbot to "wait to go on with his schooling so that he might be considered more suitable" (Abbey chronicles). In the event, he did not wait and went instead to Paris and finally became a canon regular of the cloister of St. Rufus monastery near Arles. He rose to be prior and soon thereafter was unanimously elected abbot. This election has been traditionally dated to 1137, but evidence from the abbey's chronicles suggests it occurred about 1145.

His reforming zeal as abbot led to the lodging of complaints against him at Rome; but these merely attracted to him the favourable attention of Pope Eugene III, who created him Cardinal Bishop of Albano in December 1149.

Blessed Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II), born Karol Józef Wojtyła (Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛf vɔjˈtɨwa]; 18 May 1920, Wadowice, Republic of Poland – 2 April 2005, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the second-longest serving Pope in history and the first non-Italian since 1523.

John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He was instrumental in ending communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. Though criticised by progressives for upholding the Church's teachings against artificial contraception and the ordination of women, and by traditionalists for his support of the Church's Second Vatican Council and its reform, he was also widely praised for his firm, orthodox Catholic stances.

Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus PP. XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on 16 April 1927) is the 265th Pope, a position in which he serves dual roles as Sovereign of the Vatican City State and leader of the Catholic Church. As pope he is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter. Benedict XVI was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, on 7 May 2005. A native of Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship.

After a long career as an academic, serving as a professor of theology at various German universities—the last being the University of Regensburg—he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome when he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia. From 2002 until his election as Pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals, and as such the primus inter pares among the cardinals. Prior to becoming Pope, he was "a major figure on the Vatican stage for a quarter of a century" as "one of the most respected, influential and controversial members of the College of Cardinals"; he had an influence "second to none when it came to setting church priorities and directions" as one of Pope John Paul II's closest confidants.

Charles V (Spanish: Carlos I, Dutch: Karel V, German: Karl V., Italian: Carlo V, French: Charles Quint, Turkish: Şarlken; 24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.

As the heir of three of Europe's leading dynasties—the House of Habsburg of the Habsburg Monarchy; the House of Valois-Burgundy of the Burgundian Netherlands; and the House of Trastámara of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon—he ruled over extensive domains in Central, Western, and Southern Europe; and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia.

Charles was the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad. When Philip died in 1506, Charles became ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands, and his mother's co-ruler in Spain upon the death of his maternal grandfather, Ferdinand the Catholic, in 1516. As Charles was the first person to rule Castile-León and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, he became the first King of Spain (Charles co-reigned with his mother Joanna, which was however a technicality given her mental instability). In 1519, Charles succeeded his paternal grandfather Maximilian as Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria. From that point forward, Charles's realm, which has been described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", spanned nearly four million square kilometers across Europe, the Far East, and the Americas.