pope
v. To convert to Catholicism.
Other Forms
Examples
1994
To call her a "convert" is an insult to the Church of England that nurtured her. Some Anglicans use the term "poped" for going over to Rome; others call it "swimming the Tiber."
—Peter Hebblethwaite, “Katharine Duchess of Kent converts to Catholicism,” National Catholic Reporter, February 04, 1994
1994
Most Anglicans who disliked the idea of female deacons or priests would never dream of 'poping'. And for every 'practising Anglican' in England there are probably 10 who in a residual way like the idea of their Church - its architecture, its liturgy, its ceremonies of baptism and burial, but also its freedom from the shackles and superstitions of Rome.
—A.N. Wilson, “The nonsense of this chic rush to Rome,” Evening Standard, February 01, 1994
1989 (earliest)
The seminal experience of [Harold Macmillan's] youth was his flirtation with Roman Catholicism under the influence of Monsignor Ronald Knox. He very nearly ''poped'' (as he called it) while at Oxford, but was prevented by his mother, a formidable American woman from Spencer, Ind., who would allow nothing and nobody to stand in the way of her ambition for her son.
—Peter Jenkins, “The unflappable old magician,” The New York Times, March 05, 1989
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