The elephant that captivated the pope and lived in the Vatican gardens

Madrid, Spain, Jan 9, 2025 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

During the Jan. 8 general audience held in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Pope Francis and those in attendance enthusiastically enjoyed a circus performance that included acrobatics and the unexpected appearance of two animatronic elephants, which quickly became the center of attention.

The picture of the Holy Father with the elephants inevitably evokes the memory of Annone, a majestic 4-year-old albino elephant from India, who five centuries ago was the pet of Pope Leo X and lived in the Vatican gardens.

In the Spanish-language book “The Vatican as It Has Never Been Told to You,” journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal narrates the details of the unusual friendship between the pontiff who belonged to the Medici family and this elephant that crossed the seas from Lisbon to Italy as a gift from King Manuel I of Portugal.

Manuel de Aviz gave this imposing animal to the successor of St. Peter to celebrate the beginning of his pontificate. The name Annone referred to the Carthaginian general who in the First Punic War opposed fighting against Rome. Therefore, according to Martínez-Brocal, “it was a poetic way of presenting himself as a cordial ally.”

Members of the Curia and Roman citizens crowded the streets to witness Annone’s arrival, who was greeted by the pope himself near Castel Sant’Angelo. In a carefully prepared reception, and after receiving a signal from its trainer, the elephant knelt three times before Leo X. The pontiff reigned from 1513–1521.

Then the animal filled its trunk with water and spewed it over the cardinals and the people, drawing laughter and applause. The elephant became a symbol in Rome, parading in processions and special events, although only the pontiff’s most trusted men were allowed to approach it.

The animal lived in the Vatican Gardens in the Belvedere area, although it was later moved to an enclosure in the passageway that connects Castel Sant’Angelo with the Vatican. Annone died two years after his arrival due to angina pectoris. The story goes that Leo X himself accompanied him in his last moments and that he was buried in the Cortile del Belvedere, a complex of buildings north of St. Peter’s Basilica.

His memory was honored by the pope himself, who went so far as to compose an epitaph about him. Even the famous painter Raphael, whose studio was close to where the animal lived, immortalized, in at least four sketches, the white elephant that amazed Rome.

The monk Friar Giovanni da Verona also painted a drawing of the pachyderm that can now be seen in the Vatican Museums, in one of Raphael’s rooms. Annone also inspired the American historian Silvio Bedini, author of the book “The Pope’s Elephant.”

A year after Annone’s arrival in Rome, Manuel I of Portugal gave Pope Leo X  another exotic animal named Ganda, a rhinoceros from India that he had received as a gift from a Gujarati sultan.

But Rome never saw Ganda, as the vessel carrying the animal was shipwrecked near Genoa.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Catholic World Report