Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1878 — XII., Or XIII. [ARTICLE]

XII., Or XIII.

It seems to be open to doubt whether the Pope who has just been elected should not be styled Leo XII. instead of Leo XIII. There have, it is true, been twelve Leos elected as Popes before him, but one of these, Leo VIII., held his position by a very questionable tenure, and is not generally admitted by good Catholics to have been a genuine Pope. He was elected by the authority of the Emperor Otho, an Pope, Benedict V., being elected by the Council. He is held by some Catholics to have been a legitimate Pontiff; but Baronius treats him as an intruder, and the point has never yet been satisfactorily decided. His career was altogether a melancholy one, as was also that of his rival, Benedict V., who died in exile in July, 965, having been deposed by the Emperor Otho.