Benedict VII was elected
pope by the Roman clergy and people in October 974 under the influence of Sicco, envoy of
Emperor Otto II. He ascended as a compromise candidate to replace
Boniface VII, who had caused the death of
Pope Benedict VI, usurped the pontificate, and in a month plundered the Vatican of its most valuable contents. He then escaped to
Constantinople. Benedict VII visited the city of
Orvieto with his nephew Filippo Alberici, who later settled there and became consul of the city in 1016. In 978, Benedict issued a bull defining the boundaries of the
Diocese of Vic for Bishop
Froia, thereby rescinding the bulls issued by
Pope John XIII that had made Vic an archdiocese. In March 981, Benedict presided over a
synod in St Peter's that prohibited
simony. In September 981, he convened a
Lateran synod. Benedict VII died in 983, and was interred at
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. ==References==