Page "Pope Benedict II" Paragraph 1

Pope Benedict II died on 8 May 685.

He succeeded Leo II.

Although chosen in 683, he was not ordained until 684 because the permission of Emperor Constantine IV was not obtained until some months after the election.

According to the Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum, he obtained from the Emperor a decree which either abolished imperial confirmations altogether or made them obtainable from the Exarch of Ravenna.

This gave the power of confirmations of papal nominations directly to the Church and the people of Rome.

Benedict symbolically adopted Constantine's two sons Justinian and Heraclius.