Editing Pope Gregory VI (section)

==Accession==
[[File:DSC09436 MSan Giovanni a Porta Latina (Rome).jpg|thumb|Gratian, later Gregory VI, was [[archpriest]] of [[San Giovanni a Porta Latina]] (the church exterior has changed little since his day).]]
Gratian, the [[archpriest]] of [[San Giovanni a Porta Latina|St. John by the Latin Gate]],<ref name=Cowdrey>[https://books.google.com/books?id=D9SG3pEWGfkC&dq=Pope+Gregory+VI&pg=PA29 Cowdrey, H. E. J., ''Pope Gregory VII, 1073-1085'', Clarendon Press, 1998, p. 29], {{ISBN|9780191584596}}</ref> was a man of great reputation for uprightness of character. He was also the godfather of [[Pope Benedict IX]], who, at the age of twenty, was foisted on the papacy by his powerful family, the [[Theophylacti]], counts of [[Tusculum]]. Benedict IX, wishing to marry and vacate the position into which he had been thrust by his family, consulted his godfather as to whether he could resign the pontificate. When he was convinced that he might do so, he offered to give up the papacy into the hands of his godfather if he would reimburse him for his election expenses.<ref name=Blumenthal>[https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&dq=Pope+Gregory+VI&pg=PT488 Blumenthal, Uta-Renate. "Gregory VI", ''Medieval Italy'', (Christopher Kleinhenz, ed.), Routledge, 2004] {{ISBN|9781135948801}}</ref> Desirous of ridding the [[Holy See|See of Rome]] of such an unworthy pontiff, John Gratian paid him the money and was recognized as Pope in his stead.<ref name=Mann>{{Catholic|title=Pope Gregory VI|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06791a.htm |last=Mann|first=Horace|volume=6|date=1909|access-date=4 January 2016|inline=1}}</ref>

The accession of John Gratian, who took the name Gregory VI, did not bring peace, though it was hailed with joy even by such a strict upholder of the right as [[Peter Damian]]. When Benedict IX left the city after selling the papacy, there was already another aspirant to the Roman see in the field. John, [[bishop of Sabina]], had been hailed as [[Pope Sylvester III]] by the faction of the nobility that had driven Benedict IX from Rome in 1044, and had then installed him in his place. Though Benedict IX soon returned, and forced Sylvester III to retire to his See of Sabina, Sylvester never gave up his claims to the papal throne, and through his political allies contrived apparently to keep some hold on a portion of Rome.<ref name=Mann/> To complicate matters, Benedict IX, unable to obtain the bride on whom he had set his heart, soon repented his resignation, claimed the papacy again, and in his turn is thought to have succeeded in acquiring dominion over a part of the city.<ref name=Mann/>