440 A.D.
Death of Pope Sixtus III, 44th successor of Peter who served eight years. It was Sixtus who enlarged and embellished the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. Lawrence. He was the author of several epistles and upheld the jurisdiction of Rome over Ilyria against the Eastern Emperor who wanted it dependent on Constantinople.
1458 A.D.
Cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini is elected 210th successor of Peter and takes the name Pope Pius II on this date. He would go on to have a great influence on the crusades, even appointing himself to head the campaign, but he died enroute to the crusades.
1503 A.D.
Death of Pope Alexander VI, 214th successor of Peter. It was he who, by a simple mark on the maps of the new lands in America, decided the destiny of the new continent.
1568 A.D.
Pope Pius V sets up a commission to handle the problems that had cropped up regarding missionaries in the new world and the in-fighting among various orders.