BONIFACE II.

boniface ii., pope from 530 to 532, was by birth a goth, and owed his election to the nomination of his predecessor, felix iv., and to the influence of the gothic king. the roman electors had opposed to him a priest of alexandria called dioscorus, who died a month after his election, and thus left the position open for him. boniface endeavoured to nominate his own successor, thus transforming into law, or at least into custom, the proceeding by which he had benefited; but the clergy and the senate of rome forced him to cancel this arrangement. boniface iii. was pope from the 15th of february to the 12th of november 606. he obtained from phocas recognition of the "headship of the church at rome," which signifies, no doubt, that phocas compelled the patriarch of constantinople to abandon (momentarily) his claim to the title of oecumenical patriarch. boniface iv. was pope from 608 to 615. he received from the emperor phocas the pantheon at rome, which was converted into a christian church.