Pope Leo VIII
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Pope Leo VIII |
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| Papacy began | 6 December 963 (as antipope); 23 June 964 (as pope) |
| Papacy ended | 26 February 964 (as antipope); 1 March 965 (as pope) |
| Predecessor | Benedict V |
| Successor | John XIII |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Leo |
| Born | Rome, Papal States |
| Died | 1 March 965 Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
Pope Leo VIII (died 1 March 965) was Pope from 23 June 964 to his death in 965; before that, he was an antipope from 963 to 964, in opposition to Pope John XII and Pope Benedict V. An appointee of the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, his pontificate occurred during the period known as the Saeculum obscurum.
Born in Rome in the region around the Clivus Argentarius, Leo was the son of John who held the office of Protonotary, and a member of an illustrious noble family. Although a layperson, he was the protoscriniarius (or superintendent of the Roman public schools for scribes) in the papal court during the pontificate of John XII. In 963 he was included in a party that was sent by John to the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, who was besieging the King of Italy, Berengar II at the castle of St. Leo in Umbria. His instructions were to reassure the emperor that the pope was determined to correct the abuses of the papal court, as well as protesting about Otto's actions in demanding that cities in the Papal States take an oath of fidelity to the emperor instead of the pope.
By the time Otto entered Rome to depose John, Leo had been appointed Protonotary to the Apostolic See. A synod convened by the emperor uncanonically deposed John (who had fled to Tibur) and proceeded to elect Leo, who was the emperor's nominee, as pope on 4 December 963, although as he was still a layman such an election was also invalid. In the space of a day Leo was ordained Ostiarius, Lector, Acolyte, Subdeacon, Deacon and Priest by Sico, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, who then proceeded to consecrate him as Bishop of Rome on 6 December 963. The deposed John, however, still had a large body of sympathisers within Rome; he offered large bribes to the Roman nobility if they would rise up and overthrow Otto and kill Leo, and so, in early January 964, the Roman people staged an uprising that was quickly put down by Otto's troops. Leo, hoping to reach out to the Roman nobility, persuaded Otto to release the hostages he had taken from the leading Roman families in exchange for their continued good behaviour. However, once Otto left Rome around 12 January 964, the Romans again rebelled, and caused Leo to flee Rome and take refuge with Otto sometime in February 964.
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