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Pope Gregory VI (Latin: Gregorius VI), born John Gratian in Rome (Latin: Johannes Gratianus), was Pope from 1 May 1045 until his abdication at the Council of Sutri on 20 December 1046.
Gregory VI was accused of purchasing the papacy and freely admitted it; however, he disputed that this act, given the circumstances, constituted the crime of simony. However, the bishops of the synod impressed upon Gratian that this act was indeed simoniacal, and called upon him to resign. Gregory VI, seeing that little choice was left to him, complied of his own accord and laid down his office.
Gregory VI was succeeded in the papacy by the German bishop of Bamberg, Suidger, who took the name Pope Clement II.
Gregory VI himself was taken by the Emperor to Germany in May 1047, where he died in 1048, probably at Cologne. |
