11 Facts About Pope Agatho

1.

Pope Agatho heard the appeal of Wilfrid of York, who had been displaced from his see by the division of the archdiocese ordered by Theodore of Canterbury.

2.

Pope Agatho is venerated as a saint by both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

3.

Pope Agatho served several years as treasurer of the church of Rome.

4.

Shortly after Agatho became pope, Bishop Wilfrid of York arrived in Rome to invoke the authority of the Holy See on his behalf.

5.

At a synod which Pope Agatho convoked in the Lateran to investigate the affair, it was decided that Wilfrid's diocese should indeed be divided, but that Wilfrid himself should name the bishops.

6.

The council began when Emperor Constantine IV, wanting to heal the schism that separated the two sides, wrote to Pope Agatho Donus suggesting a conference on the matter, but Donus was dead by the time the letter arrived.

7.

Pope Agatho was quick to seize the olive branch offered by the Emperor.

8.

Pope Agatho ordered councils held throughout the West so that legates could present the universal tradition of the Western Church.

9.

Pope Agatho undertook negotiations between the Holy See and Constantine IV concerning the interference of the Byzantine court in papal elections.

10.

Pope Agatho died in 681, having held the pontificate about two and one-half years.

11.

Pope Agatho is venerated as a saint by both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox.