Pope Felix III was born into Roman aristocracy and he was the great-great-grandfather of Pope Gregory the Great(590-604). The fall of the Roman empire caused eastern Bishop Acacius of Constantinople to assume that he should rule all of Christianity instead of the Bishop of Rome and he made a pact with various heretics to gain support for his move. Pope Felix would have none of it and started flinging excommunications left and right. One of his messengers actually interrupted Acacius while he was celebrating Mass to inform him that Felix had excommunicated him. The poor timing,on top of the bad news,enraged Acacius and he immediately cut off ties to Rome and began a schism that would last thirty years.
Pope Felix is said to have appeared as a ghost to his ailing great-granddaughter to help ease her passage into Heaven and he’s got a quote! These early Popes hardly ever have quotes!
“Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it, and, indeed, to neglect to confound evil men—when we can do it—is no less a sin than to encourage them.”
Every Pope. Every week. 