The Utrecht Pope Adrianus

Utrecht, a city rich in history, is home to a special figure from the past: Pope Adrian. Adrian, born Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens, saw the light of day on 2 March 1459 on the Oudegracht in, Utrecht. He was to become the first and only Dutch Pope in the history of Christianity.

Adrian held the office of Pope from 1522 until his death in 1523. In that short time, he had great influence on the Catholic Church. He was known for his intellectual abilities and was one of the most important theologians of his time. He was considered the only non-italic pope until Poland's Karol Jozef Wojtyla, became supreme religious leader in 1978. Since the Netherlands was under the Roman Empire at the time, he was also seen as a German pope, but he was really from Utrecht!

Adrian was Pope at a turbulent time. The Reformation, the religious movement that would eventually lead to the splitting of the Catholic Church, was on the rise. Adrian watched this development with sorrow and tried to reform the church to preserve unity. Despite his efforts, he failed to prevent the church split. 
Another salient detail about polar international successor John Paul the 2nd. In 1985, the then Pope came to Utrecht for a visit. He was, to put it mildly, not very well received. There were thousands of demonstrators marching to demonstrate against church. One of the invitees, Hedwig Wasser, deviated from her pre-approved and complained to the saint about church's attitude towards homosexuals, women, divorced families and married priests. The Polish Pope did not care about the criticism, but he never visited the Netherlands after that. 

In Utrecht, the memory of Pope Adrian is still alive. Besides the Pope's house on the Kromme Nieuwe gracht, a statue of him can be found diagonally opposite. All in all, Pope Adrian is a special figure in the history of Utrecht and of the Netherlands. If you want to know more about his life and work, a visit to the Pope's house and statue is definitely worthwhile.