Pope Gregory II (715–731)

Background and election

Gregory was an experienced cleric when elected. His pontificate combined pastoral care with active diplomacy. As an Italian priest of the Roman see, he managed liturgical, administrative, and defensive duties typical of early medieval popes. He is recorded as the 89th bishop of Rome and thus the 89th in the traditional list of popes.

Policies and actions

Gregory II is best known for two major concerns. First, he opposed the iconoclast measures initiated by the Byzantine emperor in the 720s, defending the veneration of images and asserting papal theological positions against imperial decrees. Second, he actively supported missionary work: he backed missionaries working among the Anglo-Saxons and Germanic peoples, offering letters of support and episcopal commissions that strengthened the church’s presence beyond Italy.

Relations with Lombards and Byzantium

His reign saw frequent tensions with the Lombards, who sought to expand their holdings in central Italy, and with Byzantine authorities, whose influence in Italy was waning. Gregory negotiated, resisted, and at times used local forces to protect church lands. These struggles contributed to a gradual shift in papal diplomacy away from sole dependence on Constantinople.

Gregory II also supervised church administration in Rome, encouraged monastic life, and ordered repairs and construction of basilicas and shrines. His responses to external pressure and his support for missions helped set patterns later popes would follow, including closer ties with northern European rulers and a more autonomous papal policy.