pope from August to November 897.

Romanus was a cardinal when elected pope in August amidst the chaotic aftermath of Pope Stephen VI's (Stephen VI (or VII)) murder. For exhuming and desecrating Pope Formosus' (Formosus) corpse and annulling his pontificate in the “Cadaver Synod,” Stephen had been imprisoned and probably strangled by Formosus' supporters, leaving Stephen's followers at political war with those who opposed the synod. Under Romanus, Formosus' body was retrieved from the Tiber River and buried. Romanus probably invalidated Stephen's acts, although formal nullification was not promulgated until a few years later by Pope John IX. Romanus was deposed, probably by Stephen's faction.