Paulos 49 was a native of Rome; he was the son of Constantinus (Konstantinos 138): Lib. Pont. 95. 1 ("natione Romanus, ex patre Constantino"). He was the younger brother of pope Stephen III (II) (Stephanos 8): Lib. Pont. 94. 5, 94. 8, 95. 1 (cited below). Paulos 49 and his brother were in their infancy when their father died, during the papacy of Gregory II (Gregorios 72) (715-731), and they were brought up in the Lateran palace among the attendants of the popes; there they received an ecclesiastical education and both were ordained deacons under pope Zacharias 16 (741-752): Lib. Pont. 95. 1 ("hic ab ineunte etate in Lateranensi patriarchio cum proprio seniore germano Stephano, predecessore eius pontifice, pro eruditione ecclesiastice discipline traditus est, temporibus domni Gregorii secundi iunioris pontificis; et postmodum a domno Zaccharia beatissimo papa in diaconii ordine pariter cum antelato suo germano consecratus est"), cf. 94. 1 (cited under Stephanos 8).

Stephanos 8 and Paulos 49 are probably to be identified with the two deacons called Stephanos and Paulos who attended the Council held at Rome in 744; see Duchesne, Lib. Pont., p. 456, n. 2.

Probably in June 752 (in the third month after his brother became pope) Paulos 49 was sent by Stephanos 8 ("disponens suum germanum sanctissimum scilicet Paulum diaconum") on an embassy to the Lombard king Aistulf 1, accompanied by the primicerius Ambrosius (Ambrosios 1), with many gifts in order to make peace and end the harassment by Aistulf 1 of Rome and its dependent cities; they easily obtained a treaty making peace for forty years: Lib. Pont. 94. 5. Aistulf 1 broke the treaty four months later: Lib. Pont. 94. 6. Shortly afterwards an imperial envoy, Ioannes 235, arrived in Rome with a message for Aistulf 1, and Stephanos 8 sent Paulos 49 with him to Ravenna ("cum suo germano praedicto sanctissimo Paulo"); they returned to Rome reporting the failure of their mission, with an empty reply from the Lombard king and accompanied by a Lombard envoy (Anonymus 243): Lib. Pont. 94. 8.

Possibly (but by no means certainly) Paulos 49 was one of the papal messengers sent with Ioannes 235 to Constantinople to ask the emperor for help in liberating Italy from the threat posed by the Lombards: Lib. Pont. 94. 9 (the pope sent "suos missos et apostolicos affatos cum imperiale praefato misso"), 94. 17 (Ioannes 235 returned "cum missis ipsius sanctissimi pontificis"). In early 757 he was still a deacon; he and Christophoros 26 were sent by pope Stephanos 8, with the Frank Fulrad 1, to Desiderius (Desiderios 3) in Tuscia, where they obtained a written promise from him to fulfil his undertakings with the pope: Lib. Pont. 94. 49 ("misit suum germanum, Paulum scilicet diaconum atque Christoforum consiliarium").

When his brother Stephanos 8 lay dying (April 757) Paulos 49 remained in the Lateran palace in attendance on him; he was still a deacon; he was one of the candidates for the succession and enjoyed much greater support than the other candidate, the archdeacon Theophylaktos 59: Lib. Pont. 95. 1 ("plurima pars iudicum et populi cum eo tenentes quam cum predicto Theophylacto archidiacono").

Paulos 49 was elected pope after his brother died (on 26 April), ordained and consecrated: Lib. Pont. 95. 2 ("continuo eadem populi congregatio que cum sepefato beatissimo Paulo tunc diacono tenebat, quoniam validior et fortior erat, eum in pontificatus culmen elegerunt"). He was bishop of Rome for ten years and one month: Lib. Pont. 95. 1. He was bishop from 29 May 757 to 28 June 767. Described as a mild and merciful man and forgiving to those who wronged him: Lib. Pont. 95. 2. When his agents (?iniquos satellites?) caused distress he took steps to soften the effect, but he was a stern ruler: Lib. Pont. 95. 2, cf. 96. 18 ("grabamina ac praeiudicia illa quae Romano populo ingesserat domnus Paulus papa"). He personally visited the sick and poor and the imprisoned; he gave help to debtors and to widows and orphans: Lib. Pont. 95. 3.

Paulos 49 fulfilled the wishes of his brother by seeking out the body of St Petronilla and conveying it to the mausoleum at the Church of St Andrew, which Stephanos 8 had previously dedicated to her: Lib. Pont. 95. 3 (later recension). He was a determined upholder of the traditional veneration of icons and wrote to the emperors Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) and his son (and co-emperor) Leo (Leo 4) demanding the restoration of their previous status: Lib. Pont. 95. 3.

He was concerned about the ruined state of many cemeteries and he transferred many saints' bodies to various churches in Rome ("per titulos ac diaconias seu monasteria et reliquas ecclesias"): Lib. Pont. 95. 4. He established in his own home ("in sua propria domu") a monastery of St Stephen and St Silvester, built a chapel and a church there, and interred there the bodies of many saints from the decayed cemeteries; he endowed the monastery generously with property and estates, and established a monastic community to sing psalms in the Greek manner ("monachorum congregationem constituens grece modulationis psalmodie cynovium esse decrevit"): Lib. Pont. 95. 5, cf. 98. 11, 107. 14 (founder of the monastery of St Stephen and St Silvester).

Paulos 49 built a church to SS Peter and Paul on the Via Sacra and a chapel to the Virgin in St Peter's, where he also built his own tomb; according to the later recension, he also restored the ruined roof of the Church of the Holy Apostles and built another chapel to the Virgin near the atrium of St Peter's: Lib. Pont. 95. 6, cf. 98. 101, 105. 36 (builder of the Chapel of the Mother of God in St Peter's).

He began but failed to complete the portico of the Holy Apostles on the Via Lata; this was subsequently completed by pope Hadrian I (Hadrianos 1): Lib. Pont. 97. 50. While spending the summer at St Paul's he fell ill because of the heat, and died; he was interred there for three months, but then his body was transported along the Tiber attended by huge crowds ("congregati omnes Romani cives et alie nationes") and buried in St Peter's in the chapel which he had built: Lib. Pont. 95. 7, 96. 2.

He retained in his service in the Lateran palace the priest Stephanos 84, who had served under his two predecessors Zacharias 16 and Stephanos 8 and who became pope himself in 768 as pope Stephen IV (III); Stephanos 84 remained in attendance on Paulos 49 during his last illness: Lib. Pont. 96. 2. He furthered the career also of the future pope Hadrianos 1, making him a cleric and appointing him a notarius regionarius of the Church and later a subdeacon: Lib. Pont. 97. 3.

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