Again, here is a pope about whom little is known. Leo was a
Roman. His father Christopher, had been primicerius, i.e., a high official in
the papal service in the time of John VIII. He seems to have supported that
pontiff in his vigorous purge of disorderly elements in Rome.
Leo entered the ranks of the clergy and at the time of his
election was attached to the Church of Santa Susanna. It would be very
interesting to know the circumstances of his election. Since Marozia had
overthrown Pope John X, it is highly probable that she had something to do with
putting in Leo VI, but no documentary evidence describes the election. The only
act of Leo VI which has come down to posterity is his approval of the decrees of
the national synod held at Spalato in 926. He granted the pallium to the
archbishop of Spalato and decreed that he was to have metropolitan jurisdiction
over all Dalmatia. Leo VI seems to have been a good man. Certainly no historian
has anything to say against him.
The thirteenth century writer Ptolemy of Lucca says "he
exercised no tyranny and died in peace, and . . . according to most writers he
was buried in St. Peter's." Leo's pontificate extended probably from June 928 to
February 929.
Excerpted from "Popes
Through the Ages" by Joseph Brusher, S.J.
