STEPHEN III
(Pope Stephen III)
Popular Quotes
The papacy and the Lombards were in a dispute over control of various land holdings. The Pope assumed that leprosy was wrought by God to evil people and in his view the Lombards were that so they would definitely have leprosy.
All Quotes
Pope Stephen III was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 7 August 768 to his death. Stephen was a Benedictine monk who worked in the Lateran Palace during the reign of Pope Zachary. In the midst of a tumultuous contest by rival factions to name a successor to Pope Paul I, Stephen was elected with the support of the Roman officials. He summoned the Lateran Council of 769, which sought to limit the influence of the nobles in papal elections. The Council also opposed iconoclasm.
