Pope Leo VIII
| Leo VIII | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Papacy began | 6 December 963 |
| Papacy ended | 1 March 965 |
| Predecessor | Benedict V |
| Successor | John XIII |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | ??? |
| Born | ??? Rome, Papal States |
| Died | 1 March 965 Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
| Other Popes named Leo | |
Pope Leo VIII (died 1 March 965), a Roman by birth, is considered by the Church an Antipope[1] from 963 to 964 and a true Pope from 964 to 965. He held the lay office of protoserinus when he was elected pope, allegedly invalidly, by the Roman synod in December 963, when it also invalidly deposed Pope John XII, who was still alive. This occurred at the insistence of Emperor Otto I the Great, "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy",[2] who on 2 February 962 had been crowned emperor by John XII to rule the territories that would later become known as the Holy Roman Empire.
Having been hurried with unseemly haste through all the intermediate orders, Leo received consecration two days after his election, which was unacceptable to the Roman populace. In February 964, after the Emperor withdrew from the city, Leo VIII found it necessary to seek safety in flight, whereupon he was deposed by a synod held under the presidency of the restored John XII. On the sudden death of John XII, the populace chose Pope Benedict V (964–966) as his successor. But Otto I, after returning and laying siege to the city, compelled its acceptance of Leo VIII.[3]
With the consent of all members of the Roman synod who met to depose him in July 964, Benedict was degraded to the rank of a deacon. Leo himself tore the pallium from his shoulders. If it be the fact, as is asserted by a contemporary, that Benedict validly acquiesced in his deposition, and if, as seems certain, no further protest was made against Leo's position, he may well be regarded as a true pope from July 964, to his death in 965, about the month of March.
It is usually said that, at the synod which deposed Benedict V, Leo VIII conceded to the Emperor and his successors as sovereign of Italy full rights of investiture, but the genuineness of the document on which this allegation rests is more than doubtful.
Leo VIII was succeeded by Pope John XIII.
[edit] References
- ^ Oliver Joseph Thatcher, Edgar Holmes McNeal, A Source Book for Mediæval History, (C. Scribner's Sons, 1905), 118.
- ^ Arnulf of Milan,Liber gestorum recentium, I.7.
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI, (HarperCollins, 2000), 159.
- 9th edition (1882) of the Encyclopædia Britannica
[edit] External links
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by Benedict V |
Pope 964–965 |
Succeeded by John XIII |
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