Pope John XIV (died 20 August 984) was Pope from December 983 to 20 August 984 as successor to Pope Benedict VII.
He was born at Pavia, and before his elevation to the papal chair was imperial chancellor of Emperor Otto II, yet still only the latter's second choice for pope.
His original name was Pietro Canepanova, but he took the name John XIV to avoid being linked to St. Peter himself.
Otto II died shortly after his election, his heir Otto III, being only 3 years old and unable to protect John's position as Pope. Antipope Boniface VII (974, 984–985), on the strength of the popular feeling against the new Pope, returned from Constantinople and placed John XIV in prison in the Castel Sant'Angelo, where he died either from starvation or poison.
Famous quotes containing the words pope, john and/or xiv:
“From Nature’s chain whatever link you strike,
Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“People named John and Mary never divorce. For better or for worse, in madness and in saneness, they seem bound together for eternity by their rudimentary nomenclature. They may loathe and despise one another, quarrel, weep, and commit mayhem, but they are not free to divorce. Tom, Dick, and Harry can go to Reno on a whim, but nothing short of death can separate John and Mary.”
—John Cheever (1912–1982)
“The forest of Compiegne. Look at it. Like a kind grandmother dozing in her rocking chair. Old trees practicing curtsies in the wind because they still think Louis XIV is king.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)