pope, or antipope, from June to July 974 and from August 984 to July 985; he owed his rule to the support of the Crescentii, a powerful and unscrupulous Roman family.

A cardinal deacon, he ordered the murder of his predecessor, Benedict VI, and was installed by Crescentius I. Later, however, he was expelled at the behest of Otto II, the Holy Roman emperor, and was replaced on the papal throne by Benedict VII. Otto died shortly after Benedict's successor, John XIV, was elected pope, and the Crescentii attempted to regain control of the papacy. They summoned Boniface (984) from his refuge in Constantinople, where he had fled with the church treasury; on his return he imprisoned, and presumably murdered, John. A reign of intrigue ensued, which ended with Boniface's murder by a vengeful Roman mob.