Pope John II

Mercurius was a priest at St. Clement's Basilica, where he paid for gifts and stone carvings, before his elevation on 2 January 533. As pope, he made a choice no predecessor had: he wouldn't keep a name tied to Mercury, the Roman deity. His two-year reign brought harder calls. He stripped Bishop Contumeliosus of Riez of his post, convened a council on letting Arian clergy back in, and endorsed an edict from Emperor Justinian that contradicted the doctrine of the previous pope, Hormisdas. He died on 8 May 535.