Like father, like son.

Then George W. Bush decided to seek the office his father once held, echoes of another fatherson presidential family sounded: John Adams, second president of the United States, and his son, John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. This Adams family achieved what the Bush clan dreams of.

I got to wondering if any fatherson combos ever appeared in the papal line. Since 262 popes span close to 2,000 years--and since priestly celibacy, contrary to popular opinion, was not a mandate of Jesus--I thought the chances good.

Sure enough, the Roman pontiffs currently outdo the American presidents in this regard. Of course, they have been at it much longer. Pope Innocent I (401-417) immediately succeeded his father, Pope Anastasius I (399-401). And Pope Silverius (536-537) was the son of Pope Hormisdas (514-523), with five popes serving in the intervening 13 years.

These four popes, all recognized as saints in the church, are not exactly household names today.

Innocent I, the 40th pope, was an early proponent of centralized papal authority, declaring the bishop of Rome "the head and summit of the episcopate." In 410, Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome when Innocent was away and kept this pope from returning home for two years. His daddy, Anastasius I, whose reign was short, was well-connected and well-respected. He condemned the famous theologian Origen even though he was reputed not to have read one word Origen ever wrote. Saint Jerome, upon the death of Anastasius, suggested that his reign had been cut short because Rome was undeserving of such a quality bishop!

Pope Silverius reigned little more than a year and was one of only a handful of popes to resign, but not until after he was deposed by an emperor's general. He died a month later and was buried on the Italian island of Palmaria, where he was exiled. His daddy, Pope Hormisdas, did much better, reigning for nearly a decade and establishing some peace between the Eastern and Western church. In death as well, he fared better than his son. Hormisdas was prominently buried in the portico of St. Peter's.

In addition to these two legitimate father-son teams, there's John XI (931-935), the illegitimate son of Pope Sergius III (904-911). John was elected the 125th pope in his early 20s. As pope he was imprisoned by a half brother and later lived under house arrest in the papal palace. His father's papacy was even more bizarre. Sergius first knocked off his predecessor and then several others during the course of his reign. No wonder his tomb has not been preserved. Not surprisingly, neither of these two rogues were ever canonized.

After this year's election, will we see another presidential father-son combo? It has taken 175 years for this possibility once again to arise here in the United States. We'll know soon.

Will we ever again see another papal father-son combo? Time--lots of it--will tell.

PETER GILMOUR ([e-mail]) teaches at the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago.