Pope John XXII - Biography

Biography

The son of a shoemaker in Cahors, Jacques Duèze studied medicine in Montpellier and law in Paris.

The death of Pope Clement V in 1314 was followed by an interregnum of two years due to disagreements between the cardinals, who were split into two factions. After two years, Philip V of France finally in 1316 managed to arrange a papal conclave of twenty-three cardinals in Lyon. This conclave elected Jacques Duèze, who took the name John XXII and was crowned in Lyon. He set up his residence in Avignon rather than Rome, continuing the Avignon Papacy of his predecessor.

John XXII involved himself in the politics and religious movements of many European countries in order to advance the interests of the Church. This made him a very controversial pope at the time. Also his close links with the French crown created widespread distrust of the papacy.

Before John XXII's election a contest had begun for the imperial crown between Louis IV of Bavaria and his opponent, Frederick I of Austria. John XXII was neutral at first, but in 1323, when Louis IV had won and became Holy Roman Emperor, the Guelph (papal) party and the Ghibelline (imperial) party began a serious quarrel. This was partly provoked by John XXII's extreme claims of authority over the empire and also partly by Louis IV's support of the spiritual Franciscans, whom John XXII condemned in the Papal bull Quorumdam exigit for their insistence on evangelical poverty and their belief that mendicant friars would replace the priesthood and sacraments of the Church. Louis IV was assisted in his doctrinal dispute with the papacy by Marsilius of Padua and later by the English Franciscan friar and scholar William of Ockham. Louis IV invaded Italy, entered Rome and set up Pietro Rainalducci as Antipope Nicholas V in 1328. The project was a fiasco. Guelphic predominance at Rome was later restored, and Pope John excommunicated William of Ockham. However, Louis IV had silenced the papal claims and John XXII stayed the rest of his life in Avignon.

Pope John XXII was involved in a major theological controversy concerning the Beatific Vision. Even before he was pope, John XXII argued that those who died in the faith did not see the presence of God until the Last Judgment. The point is important to Catholics, since if the dead are not in the presence of God, then the whole idea of prayers to the saints would seem to be undermined. The idea is also important to Protestants who believe that, as soon as one dies, one goes to heaven; otherwise, they would need to believe in a Purgatory that lasted until the end of time. Whereas most Protestants do not believe in Purgatory, John's idea would be difficult to say the least had it stood the test of time. John XXII continued this argument for a time in sermons while he was pope, although he never taught it in official documents. He eventually backed down from his position, and agreed that those who died in grace do indeed immediately enjoy the Beatific Vision.

Despite holding for many years a view widely held to be heretical, John XXII is not considered a heretic because in his day the doctrine he had contradicted had not been formally defined by the Church, a lacuna that his successor Benedict XII immediately filled by the encyclical Benedictus Deus, which formally defined this doctrine as part of Church teaching.

Pope John XXII was an excellent administrator and did much efficient reorganizing. He had sent a letter of thanks to the Muslim ruler Uzbeg Khan, who was very tolerant of Christians and treated Christians kindly.

John XXII has traditionally been credited with having composed the prayer "Anima Christi, sanctifica me ...", which has come down to us in English as "Soul of Christ, sanctify me ..." and as the hymn, "Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast".

On 27 March 1329 John XXII condemned many writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical in his papal bull In Agro Dominico.