Leo

a Latin word meaning the lion. Several Byzantine emperors and thirteen popes have borne the name.

POPE LEO I, surnamed the Great, ruled from 440 to 461. It was through his influence that Attila, the "Scourge of God," was induced to leave Italy without sacking Rome.

POPE LEO X, who occupied the papal chair from 1513 to 1521, was a de Medici. He was an able pontiff. He expelled a number of petty tyrants from Italy and added their territories to the papal dominion. Like others of the de Medici family, he was a patron of the arts and literature. It was during his pontificate that the sale of indulgences reached its height, and the German Reformation under Luther began.

POPE LEO XIII, the last of the name, succeeded Pius IX in 1878. During his rule, the papal state continued a part of unified Italy. Pope Leo, like his predecessor, shut himself up, claiming that he was a prisoner within the Vatican. He refused to become reconciled to the new order of things. He took a deep interest in the suppression of African slavery. He wrote numerous encyclical letters. In one of these he attacked false socialism; in others he defended the institution of marriage as a sacrament of the church. At his death in 1903 he was succeeded by Pius X.