Gregory VI was actually Benedict IX's godfather. Benedict - who was only in his twenties at this time - vacated the seat to go be married, and sold the papacy to Gregory on his way out. Gregory appeared to make an honest effort to straighten out the church at this point, but he was dealing with corrupt clergy and was still under enormous political pressure from the Roman nobility. He held the chair for about 18 months.

In late 1046, he was accused of purchasing the papacy - which he admitted - but argued that this wasn't a crime as he did it with pure motives, to release the extremely young and unsuitable pope before him. This excuse didn't fly with the church, and so he stepped down.