Benedict VII

Benedict VII (born, Rome—died July 10, 983, Rome) was the pope from 974 to 983. He furthered the cause of monasticism and acted against simony, specifically in an encyclical letter in 981 forbidding the exaction of money for the conferring of any holy order.

Formerly bishop of Sutri, Papal States, he was elected through the intervention of Count Sicco, representative of Otto II, Holy Roman emperor. Sicco expelled the antipope Boniface VII, who had been intruded on the papal throne by a Roman group that killed Benedict’s predecessor, Benedict VI. Enjoying the support of both Otto II and the powerful Crescentii family, Benedict’s rule was peaceful. He is judged, however, to have been mistaken when, in an agreement with Otto, he dissolved the bishopric of Merseburg (981). The closing of this outpost among the Slavs is considered to have been a setback in the conversion of central Europe. Benedict and Otto worked harmoniously together and died in the same year.