Pope Donus II is an apocryphalpope who allegedly held the title briefly betweenBenedict VI andBenedict VII sometime during the 970s. The creation is likely due to papal catalogues accidentally confusing the titledomnus for a proper name caused by the later addition of someantipopes into papal listings. His existence had been documented since at least the 15th century, and he was considered a pope by the Vatican for more than 200 years until the timeline was corrected in 1947. Despite his fictitious record, the nonexistent pope had been praised for honorable conduct.

Donus II was likely invented by later papal catalogues that listed him betweenBenedict VI andBenedict VII. Benedict VI was likely listed prior to the phraseDomnus de Sutri, as he had been thebishop of Sutri. Later editions had added antipopeBoniface VII and his years of reign into the same timeline directly after the mention of Benedict VI, which would have listedDomnus de Sutri independently alongside the year 974, which had been previously accredited to Benedict VI. Later editors would have read the phrase as the name of a pope, and then shortened the name to justDomnus, giving the impression of a Pope Domnus (also written as Domnus, Donus, or Bonus) who held the title in 974.^[1] He was given the suffix of II as aPope Donus already had held position between 676 and 678.^[2]

Fanciful illustrations of Donus II have existed since at least the 15th century.^[3] One example is a portrait (known as aclipei) in a gallery of Popes located at theBasilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.^[4] The portraits of Popes at Saint Paul dates back to the 400s with the installation of the first 40.^{[4][5]: 71–72} The gallery was not continuously maintained, evident as the list was only expanded during rare periods of renovation.^{[5]: 125, 167} In 1748,Pietro Piazza was commissioned to remake 158 portraits and to create a gallery that visualized the Vatican's claim of an uninterrupted line of popes sinceSaint Peter. Many of the portraits did not reflect the actual likenesses of the popes and were fictionalized, as accurate depictions of individual popes was not the primary goal. Piazza worked on theclipei of popes from Stephen III of the 8th century to Benedict XIV of the 18th century, which would have included the fictional Donus II.^{[6][5]: 226–227}

In the 18th century, the mosaic gallery was used byGiovanni Marangoni to create an official papal roster. For more than two hundred years, Donus II was considered a legitimate pope by theHoly See. Although the list was known to be flawed, it was not formally audited until 1947. In addition to confirming the nonexistence of Donus II, the audit revealed thatPopes Cletus and Anacletus were the same person, discovered PopesBoniface VI andLeo VIII, and corrected various details concerning dozens of other popes.^[4]

Despite his accidental creation, egregious accounts of Donus II have been recorded. A book byAlexis-François Artaud de Montor states that he was Roman, elected in 972 due to involvement by thecounts of Tusculum, and "governed three months with great integrity" before dying on 19 December 972 and being interred at theVatican.^[7] Other specifics of his alleged reign vary, such as being between 5 April 974 and October 975, or, according toWilliam à Beckett, that he was "never charged with any injustice or dishonourable action." [sic]^[8][9] Regardless of the dates of his alleged papacy, no contemporary sources mention Donus II nor are any of his acts as pope recorded.^[1]

• Pope Joan, myth of a woman Pope who reigned during the Middle Ages often reported as fact prior to the 17th century

• Legendary popes
• Nonexistent people
• 970 establishments
• 1947 disestablishments
• Urban legends
• Vatican City people

• CS1 maint: publisher location
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2025