Pope Severinus

Severinus was elected bishop of Rome in October 638, but Emperor Heraclius in Constantinople had other plans. The emperor wanted papal endorsement of Monothelitism, a theological compromise Severinus rejected outright. That refusal trapped him in limbo: elected but unrecognized, waiting in Rome while Heraclius withheld imperial sanction. The standoff dragged on for over eighteen months. Severinus finally received official recognition on 28 May 640 and assumed the pontificate. He died two months later, on 2 August, having spent most of his papacy fighting to reach it.