Pope Felix IV

Styles of Pope Felix IV
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Saint Felix IV was pope from 526 to 530.

He came from Samnium, the son of one Castorius. Following the death of Pope John I at the hands of the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great, the papal voters gave in to the king's demands and chose Cardinal Felix as Pope. Felix's favor in the eyes of the king caused him to push for greater benefits for the Church.

He was elected after a gap of nearly two months after the death of John I.

Imperial edict passed granting that cases against clergy should be dealt with by the Pope. He defined church teaching on grace and free will in response to a request on opposing Semi-Pelagianism in Gaul.

Felix attempted to designate his own successor: Boniface. The reaction of the Senate was to forbid the discussion of a pope’s successor during his lifetime, or the acceptance of such a nomination.

The majority of the clergy reacted to Felix's activity by nominating Dioscorus as Pope, and a minority for Boniface.

Felix built the Santi Cosma e Damiano in the Imperial forums.

(Note on numbering: Pope Felix II is now considered an antipope. At the time however, this fact was not recognized and so the second true Pope Felix is known by the official number III. This caused the true third pope Felix to take the number IV. This has advanced the numbering of all subsequent Popes Felix by one. Popes Felix III and IV are really the second and third popes by that name. It also affected the name taken by the antipope Felix V, who if he had been pope, really would have been the fourth Felix.)

External Links

• Catholic Encyclopedia entry

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