John reigned from Avignon.
He was an excellent administrator, and reorganized the Church's 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.
![[portrait of Pope John XXII]](pope0196.jpg "13kb jpg portrait of Pope John XXII, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")