Pope Benedict VII (Latin:Benedictus VII; died 10 July 983) was thebishop of Rome and ruler of thePapal States from October 974 to his death on 10 July 983.
Benedict was born inRome, the son of David or Deodatus and nephew ofAlberic II of Spoleto. He was also connected to the Conti family.[2] Before his accession to the papacy, he served asbishop of Sutri.[1]
Benedict VII was electedpope by the Roman clergy and people in October 974 under the influence of Sicco, envoy ofEmperor Otto II. He ascended as a compromise candidate to replaceBoniface VII, who had caused the death ofPope Benedict VI, usurped the pontificate, and in a month plundered the Vatican of its most valuable contents. He then escaped toConstantinople.[2] The new pope's authority was opposed by Boniface VII and his supporters, and although the antipope himself was forced to flee, his party followed fiercely in his footsteps and compelled Benedict to call upon Otto II for help. Once he was firmly established on his throne by the emperor, he showed himself both desirous of checking the tide of simony which was rising high in the Church, and of advancing the cause of monasticism.[1]
Benedict VII consecrated the priest James, who had been sent to him by the people ofCarthage "to help the wretched province of Africa," which since theMuslim conquest of the Maghreb, had seen a steep decline in the number of bishops.[3] Benedict VII visited the city ofOrvieto with his nephew Filippo Alberici, who later settled there and became consul of the city in 1016. In 978, Benedict issued a bull defining the boundaries of theDiocese of Vic for BishopFroia, thereby rescinding the bulls issued byPope John XIII that had made Vic an archdiocese. In March 981, Benedict presided over asynod in St Peter's that prohibitedsimony. In September 981, he convened aLateran synod.
^abcDe Montor, Artaud.The Lives and Times of the Popes, The Catholic Publication Society of New York, 1911
^Philip Zaleski (30 Nov 2010).The Best Spiritual Writing 2011. Penguin.ISBN9781101478127.At the time of the Arab conquest there were more than three hundred bishops in the area, but by the tenth century Pope Benedict VII could not find three bishops to consecrate a new bishop.
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