Pope St Gregory VII

Gregory was named Hildebrand when he was born, but chose the name Gregory when he became Pope.  Hildebrand did not want to become Pope, but all of the Cardinals knew that God was calling him to be Pope, so they chose him.  He knew that being Pope was a very difficult job and during that time the Church was going through a very difficult time because Kings and Emperors were trying to control the Church.  The first thing Pope Gregory did when he became Pope was to pray very hard for God to tell him what he needed to do.  He made all the bad and dishonest leaders in the Church leave and he did everything he could to stop the Kings and Emperors from getting involved in making decisions in the Church.  These things made the Emperors and Kings mad, so they tried to capture Pope Gregory, but the people of Rome loved their Pope and they protected him.  Then King Henry chose his own Pope and tried to convince the people that he was the true Pope.  The Emperor then sent his army to try and capture Pope Gregory again and so he had to leave Rome and go into hiding.  He died in a place called Salerno where he was hiding from the Emperors and Kings.  His last words were “I have loved justice and hated evil.  That is why I am dying in exile”.