Pope Damasus II


Damasus II
Bishop of Rome
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began17 July 1048
Papacy ended9 August 1048
PredecessorBenedict IX
SuccessorLeo IX
Personal details
Born
Poppo de' Curagnoni

c. 1000
Died(1048-08-09)9 August 1048
Palestrina, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire
Other popes named Damasus

Pope Damasus II (/ˈdæməsəs/; died 9 August 1048, born Poppo de' Curagnoni[1]) was the Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 17 July 1048 to his death on 9 August that same year. He was the second of the German pontiffs nominated by Emperor Henry III. A native of Bavaria, he was the third German to become pope and had one of the shortest papal reigns.[2]

Upon the death of Clement II, envoys from Rome were sent to the emperor to ascertain who should be named pope. Henry named the bishop of Brixen, Poppo de' Curagnoni. While the envoys were away, the former pope Benedict IX reasserted himself and with the assistance of the disaffected Margrave Boniface III of Tuscany once again assumed the papacy. Henry ordered Boniface to escort Poppo to Rome, but Boniface declined, pointing out that the Romans had already enthroned Benedict. Enraged, the emperor ordered the margrave to depose Benedict or suffer the consequences. Poppo became pope in mid-July but died less than a month later, in Palestrina.

  1. ^ Charles A. Coulombe, Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes, (Citadel Press, 2003), 204.
  2. ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Damasus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 786.

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