Boniface III

Pope Boniface III was the bishop of Rome from 19 February 607 to his death on 12 November of the same year. Despite his short pontificate, he made a significant contribution to the Catholic Church.

Early career Coin of the Emperor Phocas ; Boniface III had an important relationship with him. The son of Iohannes (John) Cataadioce, Boniface was of Roman extraction. While serving as a deacon, Boniface impressed Pope Gregory I, who described him as a man "of tried faith and character" and selected him to be papal apocrisiarius to the imperial court in Constantinople in 603. This was to be a significant time in his life and helped to shape his short but eventful papacy. Boniface himself is thought to have insisted on the elections being free and fair and may have refused to take up the papacy until convinced that they had been.

Boniface III made two significant changes to papal selections. The first was the enacting of a decree forbidding anyone during the lifetime of a pope to discuss the appointment of his successor under pain of excommunication. The second change established that no steps could be taken to provide for a papal successor until three days after a pope's burial. This suggests that he was serious in his desire to keep papal elections free.

Boniface's other notable act resulted from his close relationship with Emperor Phocas. He sought and obtained a decree from Phocas which restated that "the See of Blessed Peter the Apostle should be the head of all the Churches". This ensured that the title of "universal bishop" belonged exclusively to the bishop of Rome, and effectively ended the attempt by Patriarch Cyriacus of Constantinople to establish himself as "universal bishop".

Boniface III was buried in Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, on 12 November 607.