Pelagius II
Pelagius · 579 – 590
Consecrated without imperial approval during a Lombard siege and pleaded desperately for help from Constantinople.
Pelagius II was of Ostrogothic descent. He was consecrated pope without waiting for the emperor's approval because Rome was under Lombard siege and communication with Constantinople was impossible. He wrote urgently to the emperor for military aid, but help never came. He sent the deacon Gregory, later Pope Gregory the Great, as his ambassador to Constantinople. Pelagius also rebuilt San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. He died during a devastating plague that struck Rome in 590, the same plague that would define the early months of his successor's pontificate.
Nobody Came
Pelagius begged Constantinople for soldiers, for supplies, for anything. The letters are painful to read. The emperor had his own problems and Italy was not the priority. Pelagius learned what many popes after him would learn: when the secular powers fail you, the Church has to look after its own.