Benedict V, Pope

BENEDETTO V, POPE. - Elected upon the death of Giovanni XII (d. 14 May 964) by the Roman people, who only a few months earlier (6 Dec. 963) had renounced the emperor’s right to elect Popes, he was consecrated on 22 May 964. He was worthy of the Apostolic See by reason of his holiness of life and depth of learning, so much so that he was called the Grammarian. Yet his election was not accepted by Ottone I, who, as soon as he was able, brought back to Rome the fugitive antipope Leone VIII. After brief resistance, the Roman people had to surrender their Pope to the emperor. Brought before a synod assembled that very day (23 June 964) by Leone VIII, he threw himself at the feet of the victor, groaning: “If I have sinned, have pity on me” (Lurprando di Cremona, Liber de gestis Ottonis, 22, in MGH, Scriptores, III, pp. 340-45). The emperor was moved. B. was permitted to exercise the diaconate; but he was exiled to Amburgo, where he died with a reputation for sanctity on 4 July 966. Twenty years later, by order of Ottone III, his ashes were transferred to Rome (Thietmar, Chronicon, IV, cap. 40, in MGH, Scriptores, III, pp. 752-54; 831-32), but it is not known in which church they were deposited.