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Pope John XXII

Pope John XXII Also known as

Jacques Duese
Jacques D’euse

Profile

Canon lawyer in the service of Pope Boniface VIII. Bishop of Frejus, France. Chancellor to Charles II of Naples, Italy. Bishop of Avignon, France. Cardinal–bishop of Porto-Santa Rufino. There was a two-year inter-regnum between the death of Clement V and the election of John as the 196th pope.

John reigned from Avignon, France. He was an excellent administrator, and reorganized the Church beaurocracy. In 1323, a quarrel broke out between pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, Louis IV of Bavaria due to John’s claims of secular authority over the empire, and Louis’ support of the spiritual Franciscans whom John had condemned for their insistence on poverty. Louis invaded Italy, and in 1328 he set up Pietro Rainalducci as anti-pope Nicholas V. The project was a fiasco, but John withdrew his claims of authority over the empire.

In his later years, John advance a theory that the Beatific Vision will begin only after the Last Judgment. This novel idea was variously denied, scorned or ignored by theologians, and John subsequently modified it. Due to some confusion over the order of Popes John in the Middle Ages, John XXII has often been referred to as John XXI.