List of sexually active popes

Last updated

Pope Paul III Farnese had four illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first duke of Parma. Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese (by Titian) - National Museum of Capodimonte.jpg
Pope Paul III Farnese had four illegitimate children and made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first duke of Parma.

This is a list of sexually active popes, Catholic priests who were not celibate before they became pope, and those who were legally married before becoming pope. Some candidates were allegedly sexually active before their election as pope, and others were thought to have been sexually active during their papacies. A number of them had children.

Contents

There are various classifications for those who were sexually active during their lives. Allegations of sexual activities are of varying levels of reliability, with several having been made by contemporary political or religious opponents. Some claims are generally accepted by modern historians, while other remain more contested.

Background

For many years of the Church's history, celibacy was considered optional. Based on the customs of the times, it is assumed[ by whom? ] by many that most of the Twelve Apostles were married and had families. The New Testament (Mark 1:29–31; [1] Matthew 8:14–15; [2] Luke 4:38–39; [3] 1 Timothy 3:2, 12; [4] Titus 1:6) [5] depicts at least Peter as being married, and bishops, priests and deacons of the Early Church were often married as well. In epigraphy, the testimony of the Church Fathers, synodal legislation, and papal decretals in the following centuries, a married clergy, in greater or lesser numbers, was a feature of the life of the Church. Celibacy was not required for those ordained and was accepted in the early Church, particularly by those in the monastic life.

Although various local Church councils had demanded celibacy of the clergy in a particular episcopal jurisdiction, [6] it was not until the Second Lateran Council (1139) that official made the promise to remain celibate a prerequisite to ordination within the Latin Church (and effectively ended any practice of a married priesthood). Subsequently sexual relationships were generally undertaken outside the bonds of marriage, and each sexual act thus committed would have been considered a mortal sin.

Popes who were legally married

NameReign(s)RelationshipOffspringNotes
Saint Peter 30/33–64/68Mother-in-law (Greek πενθερά, penthera) is mentioned in the Gospel verses Matthew 8:14–15, Luke 4:38, Mark 1:29–31, and who was healed by Jesus at her home in Capernaum. 1 Cor. 9:5 asks whether others have the right to be accompanied by Christian wives as does "Cephas" (Peter). Clement of Alexandria wrote: "When the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, 'Remember the Lord.' Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them" [7] Yes [8] Later legends, dating from the 6th century onwards, suggested that Peter had a daughter – identified as Saint Petronilla. This connection is likely to be a result of the similarity of their names [9] [10]
Felix III 483–492Widowed before his election as popeYesHimself the son of a priest, Felix fathered two children, one of whom was subsequently the mother of Pope Gregory the Great (making the latter his grandson) [11]
Hormisdas 514–523Widowed before he took holy ordersYesFather of Pope Silverius [12]
Adrian II 867–872Married to Stephania before he took holy orders, [13] she was still living when he was elected pope and resided with him in the Lateran Palace.Yes (a daughter)His wife and daughter both resided with him until they were murdered by Eleutherius, brother of Anastasius Bibliothecarius, the Church's chief librarian [14]
John XVII 1003Married before his election as popeYes (three sons)All of his children became priests [15]
Clement IV 1265–1268Widowed before taking holy ordersYes (two daughters)Both children entered a convent [16]
Honorius IV 1285–1287Widowed before entering the clergyYes (at least two sons) [17]

Fathered illegitimate children before holy orders

NameReignRelationshipOffspringNotes
Pius II 1458–1464Not marriedYes (at least two)Two children, both born before he formally entered the clergy. The first child, fathered while in Scotland, died in infancy. A second child fathered while in Strasbourg with a Breton woman named Elizabeth died 14 months later. He delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity [18]
Innocent VIII 1484–1492Not marriedYes (two)Both born before he entered the clergy. [19] Married elder son Franceschetto Cybo to the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal's hat for his 13-year-old son Giovanni, who became Pope Leo X. [20] His daughter Teodorina Cybo married Gerardo Usodimare
Clement VII 1523–1534Not married. Relationship with a servant or slave girl – possibly Simonetta da Collevecchio Yes (one)Identified as Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence [21] [22]

Known to or suspected of having fathered illegitimate children after receiving holy orders

NameReignRelationshipOffspringNotes
Julius II 1503–1513Not marriedYes (three daughters)Three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was Felice della Rovere (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, and twelve years after his enthronement as bishop of Lausanne). [23] The schismatic Conciliabulum of Pisa, which sought to depose him in 1511, also accused him of being a "sodomite" [24]
Paul III 1534–1549Not married. Silvia Ruffini as mistressYes (three sons and one daughter)Held off ordination in order to continue his lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as cardinal-deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first duke of Parma [25] [26]
Pius IV 1559–1565Not marriedAllegedly threeOne was a son born in 1541 or 1542. He also had two daughters [27]
Gregory XIII 1572–1585Not married. Affair with Maddalena FulchiniYesReceived the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, and subsequently had an affair that resulted in the birth of Giacomo Boncompagni in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate, with Gregory later appointing him Gonfalonier of the Church, governor of the Castel Sant'Angelo and Fermo [28] [29]
Leo XII 1823–1829Not marriedAllegedly threeAs a young prelate, he came under suspicion of having a liaison with the wife of a Swiss Guard soldier and as nuncio in Germany allegedly fathered three illegitimate children [30]

Popes alleged to be sexually active during pontificate

A majority of the allegations made in this section are disputed by modern historians.

Relationships with women

NameReignRelationshipOffspringNotes
Sergius III [a] 904–911Not marriedYes (at least one)Accused of being the illegitimate father of Pope John XI by Marozia, the fifteen year old daughter of Theodora and Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum. [31] [32] Such accusations lay in Liutprand of Cremona's Antapodosis [33] and the Liber Pontificalis. [34] [35] [36] The accusations have discrepancies with another early source, the annalist Flodoard (c. 894–966): John XI was the brother of Alberic II, the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband Alberic I, so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I.[ citation needed ] Fauvarque emphasises that contemporary sources are dubious, Liutprand being "prone to exaggeration" while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of Pope Formosus. [37]
John X [a] 914–928Not married. Affairs with Theodora and MaroziaNoHad romantic affairs with both Theodora and her daughter Marozia, according to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis. [32] [38] However, Monsignor Johann Peter Kirsch (ecclesiastical historian and Catholic priest) wrote, "This statement is, however, generally and rightly rejected as a calumny. Liutprand wrote his history some fifty years later, and constantly slandered the Romans, whom he hated." [39]
John XII 955–964Not marriedNoAccused by adversaries of adultery and incest. [40] [41] Benedict of Soracte noted that he had "a collection of women". According to Liutprand of Cremona, [33] "they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father's concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse". According to Chamberlin, John was "a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held". [42] Some sources report that he died eight days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery, [40] others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery. [43] [44] [45] [46]
Alexander VI 1492–1503Not married. Relationships with Vanozza dei Catanei and Giulia FarnesePossiblyHad a long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei while still a priest, and before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, Gioffre Borgia, and Lucrezia. [32] A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, giving birth to a daughter Laura while Alexander was in his 60s and reigning as pope. [47]

Relationships with men

NameReignRelationshipNotes
Paul II 1464–1471Not married. Alleged affair with a page Thought to have died of indigestion arising from eating melon, [48] [49] though his opponents alleged he died while being sodomized by a page. [50] [51] [52]
Sixtus IV [a] 1471–1484Not marriedAccording to Stefano Infessura, Sixtus was a "lover of boys and sodomites" – awarding benefices and bishoprics in return for sexual favours, and nominating a number of young men as cardinals, some of whom were celebrated for their good looks. [53] [54] [55] Infessura had partisan allegiances to the Colonna family and so is not considered to be always reliable or impartial. [56]
Leo X [a] 1513–1521Not marriedPosthumously accused of homosexuality (by Francesco Guicciardini and Paolo Giovio). Falconi suggests he may have offered preferment to Marcantonio Flaminio because he was attracted to him. [57] Historians have dealt with the issue of Leo's sexuality at least since the late 18th century, and few have given credence to the imputations made against him in his later years and decades following his death, or else have at least regarded them as unworthy of notice; without necessarily reaching conclusions on whether he was homosexual. [58]
Julius III 1550–1555Not married. Alleged affair with ennobled cardinalAccusations of his homosexuality spread across Europe during his reign due to the favouritism shown to Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte, who rose from beggar to cardinal under Julius' patronage. [59] [60]

Relationships with women and men

NameReignRelationshipOffspringNotes
Benedict IX 1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048Not marriedNoAccused by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of "many vile adulteries". [61] [62] Pope Victor III referred in his third book of Dialogues to "his rapes… and other unspeakable acts". [63] In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to get married. [64]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 This allegation is disputed by some modern historians.
  1. ↑ Mark 1:29–31
  2. ↑ Matthew 8:14–15
  3. ↑ Luke 4:38–39
  4. ↑ 1 Timothy 3:2–12
  5. ↑ Titus 1:6
  6. ↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Celibacy of the Clergy"  . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  7. ↑ Cited by Eusebius, Church History, III, 30. Full text at Clement of Alexandria, Stromata VII, 11.
  8. ↑ Clement of Alexandria wrote: "For Peter and Philip begat children" in "Clements, Stromata (book VII) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III)". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Petronilla"  . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company..
  10. ↑ "St. Peter's – Altar of St Petronilla". Saintpetersbasilica.org. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  11. ↑ R.A. Markus, Gregory the Great and his world (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p.8
  12. ↑ Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910). "Pope St. Hormisdas"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  13. ↑ Loughlin, James Francis (1907). "Pope Adrian II"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  14. ↑ Dopierała, K. (1996). Księga Papieży. Poznań: Pallotinum. p. 106.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Loughlin, James Francis (1908). "Pope Clement IV"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  17. ↑ "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Cardinal Giacomo Savelli". Fiu.edu. Retrieved 18 October 2011.[ self-published source ]
  18. ↑ Weber, Nicholas Aloysius (1911). "Pope Pius II"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  19. ↑ Weber, Nicholas Aloysius (1910). "Pope Innocent VIII"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  20. ↑ Ridolfi, Roberto (1959). The Life of Girolamo Savonarola . New York, Knopf.
  21. ↑ George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families And Descendants Of The Popes, page 74: "Clement now made Alessandro de Medici "his illegitimate son by a slave" into the first duke of Florence", McFarland & Company, 1998, ISBN   0-7864-2071-5
  22. ↑ Mara Wade, Gender Matters: Discourses of violence in early modern literature and the arts, Editions Rodopi, 2013
  23. ↑ Ott, Michael (1910). "Pope Julius II"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  24. ↑ Louis Crompton, Homosexuality and Civilization, page 278 (Harvard University Press, 2006) ISBN   978-0-674-01197-7
  25. ↑ Jean de Pins, Letters and Letter Fragments, page 292, footnote 5 (Libraire Droze S.A., 2007) ISBN   978-2-600-01101-3
  26. ↑ Katherine McIver, Women, Art, And Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580: Negotiating Power, page 26 (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006) ISBN   0-7546-5411-7
  27. ↑ Pattenden, Miles (2013). Pius IV and the Fall of The Carafa: Nepotism and Papal Authority in Counter-Reformation Rome (page 34). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  28. ↑ Ott, Michael (1910). "Pope Gregory XIII"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  29. ↑ "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Ugo Boncompagni". Fiu.edu. 3 December 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  30. ↑ Letters from Rome in: The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Tom 11, pp. 468–471.
  31. ↑ Mann, Horace Kinder (1912). "Pope Sergius III"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  32. 1 2 3 George Williams, Papal Genealogy: The family and descendants of the Popes, McFarland, 1998
  33. 1 2 Brook, Lindsay Leonard (January 2003). "Popes and pornocrats: Rome in the early middle ages" (PDF). Foundations. 1 (1). Hereford, UK: Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: 5–21. ISSN   1479-5078.
  34. ↑ Liber Pontificalis (first ed., 500s; it has papal biographies up to Pius II, d. 1464)
  35. ↑ Reverend Horace K. Mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Volumes 1–13 quote: "Was John XI the son of Pope Sergius by the abandoned Marozia? Liutprand says he was, and so does the author of the anonymous catalogue in the Liber Pontificalis in his one-line notice of John XI." (1928)
  36. ↑ Anura Gurugé, The Next Pope: After Pope Benedict XVI, page 37: "John XI (#126) would also appear to have been born out of wedlock. His mother, Marozia, from the then powerful Theophylacet family, was around sixteen years old at the time. Liber Pontificalis, among others, claim that Sergius III (#120), during his tenure as pope, was the father." (WOWNH LLC, 2010). ISBN   978-0-615-35372-2
  37. ↑ Fauvarque, Bertrand (2003). "De la tutelle de l'aristocratie italienne à celle des empereurs germaniques". In Y.-M. Hilaire (Ed.), Histoire de la papauté, 2000 ans de missions et de tribulations. Paris:Tallandier. ISBN   2-02-059006-9, p. 163.
  38. ↑ Joseph McCabe, Crises in The history of The Papacy: A Study of Twenty Famous Popes whose Careers and whose Influence were important in the Development of The Church and in The History of The World, page 130 (New York; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916)
  39. ↑ Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope John X." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 September 2017
  40. 1 2 Kirsch, Johann Peter (1910). "Pope John XII"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  41. ↑ Martin, Malachi (1981). Decline and Fall of the Roman Church. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN   0-553-22944-3. p. 105
  42. ↑ The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin
  43. ↑ Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy, Poolbeg Press, Dublin 1988/2000, pages 211–215.
  44. ↑ Hans Kung, The Catholic Church: A Short History (translated by John Bowden), Modern Library, New York. 2001/2003. page 79
  45. ↑ The Popes' Rights & Wrongs, published by Truber & Co., 1860
  46. ↑ Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, The Love Affairs of the Vatican, 1912
  47. ↑ Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A history of the popes, Yale University Press, 2006
  48. ↑ Paolo II in Enciclopedia dei Papi", Enciclopedia Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/paolo-ii_%28Enciclopedia_dei_Papi%29/
  49. ↑ "Vita Pauli Secundi Pontificis Maximi", Michael Canensius, 1734 p. 175
  50. ↑ Leonie Frieda, The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of Women, Power, and Intrigue in the Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527, chapter 3 (HarperCollins, 2013) ISBN   978-0-06-156308-9
  51. ↑ Karlheinz Deschner, Storia criminale del cristianesimo (tomo VIII), Ariele, Milano, 2007, pag. 216. Nigel Cawthorne, Das Sexleben der Päpste. Die Skandalchronik des Vatikans, Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, 1999, pag. 171.
  52. ↑ Claudio Rendina, I Papi, Storia e Segreti, Newton Compton, Roma, 1983, p. 589
  53. ↑ Ellis, Havelock (30 July 2007). Studies in the psychology of sex — Havelock Ellis — Google Boeken . Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  54. ↑ Cawthorne, Nigel (1996). Sex Lives of the Popes. Prion. p. 160. ASIN   185375546X.
  55. ↑ Stefano Infessura, Diario della città di Roma (1303–1494), Ist. St. italiano, Tip. Forzani, Roma 1890, pp. 155–156
  56. ↑ Egmont Lee, Sixtus IV and Men of Letters, Rome, 1978
  57. ↑ C. Falconi, Leone X, Milan, 1987
  58. ↑ Those who have rejected the evidence include: Fabroni, Angelo, Leone X: Pontificis Maximi Vita, Pisa (1797) at p. 165 with note 84; Roscoe 1806 , pp. 478–486; and ( Pastor 1908 , pp. 80f. with a long footnote). Those who have treated of the life of Leo at any length and ignored the imputations, or summarily dismissed them, include: Gregorovius, Ferdinand, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages Eng. trans. Hamilton, Annie, London (1902, vol. VIII.1), p. 243; Vaughan 1908 , p. 280; Hayes, Carlton Huntley, article "Leo X" in The Encyclopædia Britannica, Cambridge (1911, vol. XVI); Creighton, Mandell, A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, London (new edn., 1919), vol. 6, p. 210; Pellegrini, Marco, articles "Leone X" in Enciclopedia dei Papi, (2000, vol.3) and Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (2005, vol. 64); and Strathern, Paul The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance (a popular history), London (2003, pbk 2005), p. 277. Of these, Ludwig von Pastor and Hayes are known Catholics, and Roscoe, Gregorovius, and Creighton are known non-Catholics.
  59. ↑ Cromptom, Louis (11 October 2007). "Julius III". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  60. ↑ Johnson, E. Joe (2003). Idealized Male Friendship in French Narrative from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (1st ed.). USA: Summa Publications. p. 69. ISBN   1883479428.
  61. ↑ "Post multa turpia adulteria et homicidia manibus suis perpetrata, postremo, etc." Dümmler, Ernst Ludwig (1891). "Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite". I (Bonizonis episcopi Sutriensis: Liber ad amicum ed.). Hannover: Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters: 584. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2008.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  62. ↑ The Book of Saints, by Ramsgate Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, A. C. Black, 1989. ISBN   978-0-7136-5300-7
  63. ↑ "Cuius vita quam turpis, quam freda, quamque execranda extiterit, horresco referre." Victor III, Pope (1934). "Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Libelli de lite" (Dialogi de miraculis Sancti Benedicti Liber Tertius auctore Desiderio abbate Casinensis ed.). Hannover: Deutsches Institut für Erforschung des Mittelalters: 141. Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2008.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  64. ↑ Dr. Angelo S. Rappaport, The Love Affairs of the Vatican, 1912, pp. 81–82.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Linus</span> Head of the Catholic Church from c. 68 to c. 80 AD

Pope Linus was the bishop of Rome from c. AD 68 to his death. He is generally regarded as the second Bishop of Rome, after St. Peter. As with all the early popes, he was canonized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Leo III</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 795 to 816

Pope Leo III was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death. Protected by Charlemagne from the supporters of his predecessor, Adrian I, Leo subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him emperor. The coronation was not approved by most people in Constantinople, although the Byzantines, occupied with their own defenses, were in no position to offer much opposition to it.

Pope Miltiades, also known as Melchiades the African, was the bishop of Rome from 311 to his death on 10 or 11 January 314. It was during his pontificate that Emperor Constantine the Great issued the Edict of Milan (313), giving Christianity legal status within the Roman Empire. The pope also received the palace of Empress Fausta where the Lateran Palace, the papal seat and residence of the papal administration, would be built. At the Lateran Council, during the schism with the Church of Carthage, Miltiades condemned the rebaptism of apostatised bishops and priests, a teaching of Donatus Magnus.

Pope Siricius was the bishop of Rome from December 384 to his death. In response to inquiries from Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, Siricius issued the Directa decretal, containing decrees of baptism, church discipline and other matters. His are the oldest completely preserved papal decretals. He is sometimes said to have been the first bishop of Rome to call himself pope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Urban I</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 222 to 230

Pope Urban I, also known as Saint Urban (175?–230), was the bishop of Rome from 222 to 23 May 230. He was born in Rome and succeeded Callixtus I, who had been martyred. It was believed for centuries that Urban I was also martyred. However, recent historical discoveries now lead scholars to believe that he died of natural causes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Sylvester I</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 314 to 335

Pope Sylvester I was the bishop of Rome from 31 January 314 until his death on 31 December 335. He filled the See of Rome at an important era in the history of the Western Church, though very little is known of his life.

Pope Valentine was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States for two months in 827. He was unusually close to his predecessor, Eugene II, rumoured to be Valentine's father or his lover, and became pope before being ordained as a priest. He was a nobleman and elected by nobility, which later became the custom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Innocent I</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 401 to 417

Pope Innocent I was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of the Archbishop of Thessalonica, and issued a decretal on disciplinary matters referred to him by the Bishop of Rouen. He defended the exiled John Chrysostom and consulted with the bishops of Africa concerning the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the African synods.

Lando was the pope from c. September 913 to his death c. March 914. His short pontificate fell during an obscure period in papal and Roman history, the so-called Saeculum obscurum (904–964).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Paschal I</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 817 to 824

Pope Paschal I was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 25 January 817 to his death in 824.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Telesphorus</span> Head of the Catholic Church from c. 126 to c. 137

Pope Telesphorus was the bishop of Rome from c. 126 to his death c. 137, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Hyginus</span> Head of the Catholic Church from c. 138 to c. 142

Pope Hyginus was the bishop of Rome from c. 138 to his death in c. 142. Tradition holds that during his papacy he determined the various prerogatives of the clergy and defined the grades of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Felix IV</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 526 to 530

Pope Felix IV was the bishop of Rome from 12 July 526 to his death. He was the chosen candidate of Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great, who had imprisoned Felix's predecessor, John I.

Pope Vigilius was the bishop of Rome from 29 March 537 to his death. He is considered the first pope of the Byzantine papacy. Born into Roman aristocracy, Vigilius served as a deacon and papal apocrisiarius in Constantinople. He allied with Empress Theodora, who sought his help to establish Monophysitism, and was made pope after the deposition of Silverius. After he refused to sign Emperor Justinian I's edict condemning the Three Chapters, Vigilius was arrested in 545 and taken to Constantinople. He died in Sicily while returning to Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope John XVII</span> Head of the Catholic Church in 1003

Pope John XVII, born John Sicco, was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States for about seven months in 1003. He was one of the popes chosen and eclipsed by the patrician John Crescentius.

<i>Liber Censuum</i> Record of the real estate venues of the papacy from 492 to 1192

The Liber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ is an eighteen-volume (originally) financial record of the real estate revenues of the papacy from 492 to 1192. The span of the record includes the creation of the Apostolic Camera and the effects of the Gregorian Reform. The work constitutes the "latest and most authoritative of a series of attempts, starting in the eleventh century, to keep an accurate record of the financial claims of the Roman church". According to historian J. Rousset de Pina, the book was "the most effective instrument and [...] the most significant document of ecclesiastical centralization" in the central Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papal appointment</span> Medieval method of selecting a pope

Papal appointment was a medieval method of selecting the Pope. Popes have always been selected by a council of Church fathers; however, Papal selection before 1059 was often characterized by confirmation or nomination by secular European rulers or by the preceding pope. The later procedures of the Papal conclave are in large part designed to prohibit interference of secular rulers, which to some extent characterized the first millennium of the Roman Catholic Church, e. g. in practices such as the creation of crown-cardinals and the claimed but invalid jus exclusivae. Appointment may have taken several forms, with a variety of roles for the laity and civic leaders, Byzantine and Germanic emperors, and noble Roman families. The role of the election vis-a-vis the general population and the clergy was prone to vary considerably, with a nomination carrying weight that ranged from nearly determinative to merely suggestive, or as ratification of a concluded election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankish Papacy</span> Aspect of papal history

From 756 to 857, the papacy shifted from the influence of the Byzantine Empire to that of the kings of the Franks. Pepin the Short, Charlemagne, and Louis the Pious had considerable influence in the selection and administration of popes. The "Donation of Pepin" (756) ratified a new period of papal rule in central Italy, which became known as the Papal States.

Stephania was a Roman noblewoman and the wife of Pope Adrian II. Upon her husband's election to the papacy in 867, she resided in the Lateran Palace. She and her daughter were abducted and later murdered by her son-in-law, Eleutherius, in 868. Her abduction and death was described in the chronicle Annales Bertiniani by Saint Hincmar.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.