[St. Pachomius Library]

Christopher, Pope or Antipope of Rome


IX/X Centuries
The leader of the coup that ousted Pope Leo V, Christopher is now generally considered to have been an anti-pope. Born in Rome, he was the cardinal priest of St. Damasus when his party, which supported Pope Formosus, took the papal throne in September of 903. The following January, Sergius III was reinstated as pope. He is thought to have ordered both Christopher and Leo strangled, although one contemporary says that Christopher was degraded to a monk and spent his last days in a monastery.

Karen Rae Keck



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