** Saint Pope Pius V

In the list of popes given in the Holy See's annual directory, Annuario Pontificio, the following note is attached to the name of Pope Leo VIII ( 963 – 965 ): At this point, as again in the mid-eleventh century, we come across elections in which problems of harmonising historical criteria and those of theology and canon law make it impossible to decide clearly which side possessed the legitimacy whose factual existence guarantees the unbroken lawful succession of the successors of Saint Peter.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI gave a homily about him in Saint Peter's square.

Antipope Felix II was installed as Pope in 355 after the Emperor Constantius II banished the reigning Pope, Liberius, for refusing to subscribe the sentence of condemnation against Saint Athanasius.

Saint Boniface ( c 680 – 750 ), Pope Gregory I ( c 540 – 604, r. 590 – 604 ), Adalbert of Egmond ( 8th century ), and priest Jeroen van Noordwijk, depicted in a 1529 painting by Jan Joostsz van Hillegom, currently on display at the Frans Hals Museum.

The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, by Pope John XV in 999 is the first undoubted example of a papal canonization of a saint from outside Rome ( Some historians maintain that the first such canonization was that of Saint Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804 ).

The procedure initiated by the text of Alexander III, confirmed by a bull of Pope Innocent III in the year 1200, issued on the occasion of the canonization of Saint Cunegunde, led to increasingly elaborate inquiries.

For example, Saint Hermann Joseph had his veneration confirmed by Pope Pius XII.

On May 5, 1940 Pope Pius XII named her a joint Patron Saint of Italy along with Saint Francis of Assisi.

Pope Paul VI gave her the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970 along with Saint Teresa of Ávila making them the first women to receive this honour.

The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy See of Saint Mark.

The Ecumenical Council of Nicea AD 325 was convened by Constantine under the presidency of Saint Hosius of Cordova and Pope Saint Alexander I of Alexandria to resolve the dispute and eventually led to the formulation of the Symbol of Faith, also known as the Nicene Creed.

The Creed, which is now recited throughout the Christian world, was based largely on the teaching put forth by a man who eventually would become Pope Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, the chief opponent of Arius.

When reports of this reached the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark, Pope Saint Cyril I of Alexandria acted quickly to correct this breach with orthodoxy, requesting that Nestorius repent.

Pope Cyril I of Alexandria, supported by the entire See, sent a letter to Nestorius known as " The Third Epistle of Saint Cyril to Nestorius.

The most recent Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy See of Saint Mark was Pope Shenouda III, who died on March 17, 2012, for whom a successor has not yet been chosen.

Both the Patriarchate of Addis Ababa and all Ethiopia, and the Patriarchate of Asmara and all Eritrea do acknowledge the supremacy of honor and dignity of the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria on the basis that both Patriarchates were established by the Throne of Alexandria and that they have their roots in the Apostolic Church of Alexandria, and acknowledge that Saint Mark the Apostle is the founder of their Churches through the heritage and Apostolic evangelization of the Fathers of Alexandria.

* 955 – Pope Agapetus II

Pope Agapetus II ( died November 955 ) was Pope from 10 May 946 until his death in 955, at the time when Alberic II ( 932 – 954 ), son of Marozia, was governing the independent republic of Rome under the title of " prince and senator of the Romans.

Agapetus, a man of some force of character, attempted to put a stop to the so-called Pornocracy, which lasted from the accession of Pope Sergius III in 904 to the deposition of Pope John XII in 963.

William received confirmation from Pope Agapetus II and also the title of Apostolic Vicar of Germany, a title which made the archbishops of Mainz the pope's deputies in Germany and granted the archdiocese of Mainz the title of Holy See.

* December 16 – Pope John XII succeeds Pope Agapetus II as the 130th pope.

* November 8 – Pope Agapetus II

Pope Agapetus I ( 535 – 536 )

* April 22 – Pope Agapetus I dies in Constantinople after a reign of just ten months.

* April 22 – Pope Agapetus I

* May 8 – Pope John II dies in Rome after a 2-year reign and is succeeded by Agapetus I as the 57th pope.

# REDIRECT Pope Agapetus I

The second successor of Boniface, Pope Agapetus I ( 535 – 536 ), appointed Vigilius papal representative ( apocrisiary ) at Constantinople.

While Vigilius was in Constantinople, Pope Agapetus died on 22 April 536, and Pope Silverius had been made pope through the influence of the King of the Goths.

Pelagius accompanied Pope Agapetus I to Constantinople and was appointed by him nuncio of the Roman Church to that city.

On a visit to Constantinople in 536, Pope Agapetus was accused of being opposed to the veneration of the theotokos and to the portrayal of her image in churches.

The popes of the destroyed tombs were: Pope John X ( 914-928 ), Pope Agapetus II ( 946-955 ), Pope John XII ( 955-964 ), Pope Paschal II ( 1099 – 1118 ), Pope Callixtus II ( 1119 – 1124 ), Pope Honorius II ( 1124 – 1130 ), Pope Celestine II ( 1143 – 1144 ), Pope Lucius II ( 1144 – 1145 ), Pope Anastasius IV ( 1153 – 1154 ), Pope Clement III ( 1187 – 1191 ), Pope Celestine III ( 1191 – 1198 ), Pope Innocent V ( 1276 ).

** Pope Celestine I ( Roman Catholic Church )

** Pope Sixtus I

This use of the title is said to have originated in the right conceded to the king of France, by the concordat between Pope Leo X and Francis I ( 1516 ), to appoint abbés commendataires to most of the abbeys in France.

** Pope Stephen I

Pope Gregory I repeats the concept, articulated over a century earlier by Gregory of Nyssa that the saved suffer purification after death, in connection with which he wrote of " purgatorial flames ".

The same word in adjectival form ( purgatorius-a-um, cleansing ), which appears also in non-religious writing, was already used by Christians such as Augustine of Hippo and Pope Gregory I to refer to an after-death cleansing.

Angilbert delivered the document on Iconoclasm from the Frankish Synod of Frankfurt to Pope Adrian I, and was later sent on three important embassies to the pope, in 792, 794 and 796.

# REDIRECT Pope Adrian I

* Pope Adrian I ( c. 700-795 )

* Pope Alexander I, Pope from 106 to 115

Pope Leo I requests Genseric not destroy the ancient city or murder its citizens.

Hippolytus of Rome ( d. 235 ) is commonly considered to be the earliest antipope, as he headed a separate group within the Church in Rome against Pope Callixtus I. Hippolytus was reconciled to Callixtus's second successor, Pope Pontian, and both he and Pontian are honoured as saints by the Roman Catholic Church with a shared feast day on 13 August.

The commentary itself was written during the papacy of Pope Damasus I, that is, between 366 and 384, and is considered an important document of the Latin text of Paul before the Vulgate of Jerome, and of the interpretation of Paul prior to Augustine of Hippo.

* Pope Anastasius I ( died 401 ), pope from November 27, 399 to 401

* Pope Anastasius I – Pope 399 – 401

The Angles are the subject of a legend about Pope Gregory I, who happened to see a group of Angle children from Deira for sale as slaves in the Roman market.

John XXIII was acknowledged as pope by France, England, Bohemia, Prussia, Portugal, parts of the Holy Roman Empire, and numerous Northern Italian city states, including Florence and Venice ; however, the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII was regarded as pope by the Kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, and Scotland and Gregory XII was still favored by Ladislaus of Naples, Carlo I Malatesta, the princes of Bavaria, Louis III, Elector Palatine, and parts of Germany and Poland.

During the English Reformation the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, at first temporarily under Henry VIII and Edward VI and later permanently during the reign of Elizabeth I.

The first Archbishop of Canterbury was St Augustine ( not to be confused with St Augustine of Hippo ), who arrived in Kent in 597 AD, having been sent by Pope Gregory I on a mission to the English.

According to this account, Athanasius composed it during his exile in Rome, and presented it to Pope Julius I as a witness to his orthodoxy.

( Philosophumena, VII, xxiii ) The belief was declared heretical by Pope Victor I.

In Spain, Adoptionism was opposed by Beatus of Liebana, and in the Carolingian territories, the Adoptionist position was condemned by Pope Hadrian I, Alcuin of York, Agobard, and officially in Carolingian territory by the Council of Frankfurt ( 794 ).