For me, the most moving part of Pope Leo’s installation mass was watching him receive his Ring of the Fisherman. The look on his face and the tears that welled up in his eyes were such a beautiful testament to how much he is feeling the weight of the office.

(If you haven’t seen it, Reuters has a clip up on YouTube.)

During the conclave, my kids and niblings got to read my upcoming Papacy Book (the perks of being an author’s kid- you get first looks at digital proofs), and since Leo’s election, they have been asking and waiting for the ring reveal.

If you don’t know about the Ring of the Fisherman, that’s okay. It’s more than a little obscure, but also super fascinating.

Every Pope, since at least the Middle Ages, has been given a signet ring called the Ring of the Fisherman. The ring usually features an image of St. Peter along with the Pope’s name, but each ring is unique to the Pope.

The link to St. Peter is why the ring is called the Ring of the Fisherman, it’s a reminder of the Lord’s call to Peter to become a fisher of men, and also a link to the humble beginnings of the papacy, and a symbol of the office itself.

Up until the mid-1800s, the ring was used as a seal for papal documents, and though they are largely ceremonial today, they are no less cool!

If you Google the rings of the previous Popes, you’ll find rings that are as different as the popes themselves. Some of them have powerful symbolism, and others have fascinating history.
Pope Sixtus V had his ring stolen by a papal cupbearer, and Pius VI’s was confiscated by French soldiers during Napoleon’s occupation of Rome.

Some of our popes have chosen simple rings: John XXIII’s was a cameo ring, and Pope Francis chose gold-plated silver instead of solid gold.

Some popes have gone the opposite route: Pope Pius IX’s ring had more than 100 diamonds.

At the end of a Pope’s life, the ring is destroyed. In some cases, the broken pieces are displayed in museums. (As an aside, when Pope Benedict resigned, his ring was not destroyed, but it was defaced with two large slashes).

My kids have loved learning about this papal symbol so much, I designed a template so that they can create their own version. It’s a fun activity that helps them to think about the papacy and gives me the opportunity to share more about what the Pope means to us as Catholics.

I’m linking the pdf below and also a link to my new book, and the first book of a new series (!!!!), OSV Kids Discover: The Pope! The official release date is August 18, but you can pre-order a copy now.

(And I really hope you do- preorders send a strong signal to a publisher that a title is going to be popular, and in this case, will be helpful in getting more series titles greenlit.)