Editing Pope Leo VI

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 928 to 929}}

{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Leo VI
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = 
| birth_name = 
| term_start = June 928
| term_end = February 929
| predecessor = [[John X]]
| successor = [[Stephen VII]]
| birth_date = 880
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date = February 929
| death_place = Rome, Papal States
| parents = Christophorus
| previous_post = Cardinal-Priest of [[Santa Susanna]] (916-928)
| other = Leo
}}

'''Pope Leo VI''' (880 – 12 February 929) was the 123rd [[bishop of Rome]] and nominal ruler of the [[Papal States]] for just over seven months, from June 928 to his death. His pontificate occurred during the period known as the ''[[Saeculum obscurum]]''.

==Family and early career==
Leo VI was born into a [[Rome|Roman]] family,<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Platina
  | first = Bartolomeo
  | author-link = Bartolomeo Platina
  | title = The Lives of the Popes From The Time Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII
  | publisher = Griffith Farran & Co.
  | location = London
  | pages = 247
  | volume = I
  | year= 1479
  | url = https://archive.org/details/thelivesofthepop01platuoft
   | access-date= 2013-04-25
}}</ref> and his father was Christophorus, who had been ''[[primicerius]]'' under [[Pope John VIII]] around the year 876. Tradition has it that he was a member of the Sanguini family.<ref>[[Georgina Masson]], ''The Companion Guide to Rome'' (1980), page 177</ref> Before his pontificate, Leo served as the [[cardinal-priest]] of [[Santa Susanna]].<ref name="m188">Mann, page 188</ref>

==Pontificate==
Leo was elected pope around June 928, during a [[Saeculum obscurum|period of anarchy]].<ref name="m188"/> He was chosen by the ''senatrix'' [[Marozia]], who had gained control of Rome via the domination of her husband [[Guy, Margrave of Tuscany]], and who had ordered the imprisonment and death of Leo’s predecessor, [[Pope John X|John X]].<ref>Mann, pgs. 163-164</ref>

During his brief pontificate, Leo confirmed the decisions of the [[Synod of Spalato]].<ref name="m188"/> He completed his predecessor’s investigations into the ecclesiastical situation in [[Dalmatia]], and proceeded to give the [[pallium]] to Archbishop John of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Split-Makarska|Salona]], and ordered all the bishops of Dalmatia to obey him. He also ordered the bishop of Nona and others to limit themselves to the extent of their [[diocese]]s.<ref>Mann, page 168</ref> Leo then banned [[castrati]] from marrying.<ref>''Medical problems of performing artists, Volume 13'' (1998), page 151</ref> He also issued an appeal for help against the Arab raiders who were threatening Rome, stating that:
<blockquote>”Whoever died faithful in this struggle will not see himself refused entry into the heavenly kingdom.”<ref>Pierre Riché, ''The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe'' (1993), page 311</ref></blockquote>

The chronicler [[Flodoard]] said of him:
<blockquote>”Through the virtue of Peter, Leo the sixth was taken and received, he was preserved for seven months and five days, and like his predecessors, he joined the company of the prophets.”<ref name="m188"/> </blockquote>

Leo died in February 929, and was succeeded by [[Stephen VII]]. He was buried at [[St. Peter’s Basilica]].<ref name="m188"/>

==References==
* Mann, Horace K., ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999'' (1910)
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09159c.htm Entry on Leo VI in the Catholic Encyclopedia]
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130608073759/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0123.htm Catholic Forum:] Leo VI
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130314121333/http://saints.sqpn.com/ncd04727.htm New Catholic Dictionary:] Leo VI

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope John X|John X]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=928–929}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Stephen VII]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:920s deaths]]
[[Category:10th-century popes]]
[[Category:880 births]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]