BENEDICT XII, POPE. — He is the third Avignon pope, succeeding John XXII (d. 4 Dec. 1334) on 20 Dec. and crowned on 8 Jan. following by Cardinal Orsini in the church of the Dominicans in Avignon. James Fournier (also called Novelli), born of humble parents at Saverdun in the diocese of Pamiers, entered at an early age the Cistercian abbey of Boulbonne; he then passed to that of Fontfroide, where his uncle was abbot. He studied theology at Paris and became a doctor there. Abbot of Fontfroide in 1311, he was named bishop of Pamiers on 19 March 1317 and from there was transferred to Mirepoix on 3 March 1326. In the government of both dioceses he showed great zeal against heresy, favoring the work of the Inquisition, for which on 18 Dec. 1327 he was created cardinal of St Praxedes. Elected pope, he hastened to conclude the discussions on the beatific vision that had been heated in the last years of his predecessor, and with the constitution *Benedictus Deus* of 20 Jan. 1336, condemning what had been the personal error of John XXII, he defined that the souls of baptized children and the souls of the just who had no further fault to expiate were admitted immediately to the intuitive and even facial vision of the divine essence, and for them the exercise of acts of faith and hope ceased (Denz-U, 530).
He immediately set about correcting the “countless abuses” that were afflicting the Church, beginning with the malfeasances of the Curia, obliging prelates with pastoral care to observe residence (15 Jan. 1335), prescribing more rigorous constitutions against the laxity of the Benedictines and Cistercians. He wished to remove the plague of wandering religious, condemned the Fraticelli, and regulated the activity of the Franciscans and Dominicans, striving to overcome every opposition. As for the Curia, he intended to remove the abuse of commendams and expectatives and regulated the registration of petitions to be presented to the Pope.
A first intention to return to Rome was followed in Pope Benedict by the resolution not to leave Avignon, where he began the construction of the papal palace. A success for him was the subjugation of Bologna. He attempted an understanding with the excommunicated Emperor Louis the Bavarian, but the intrigues of Philip VI of France and the instability of the sovereign brought his work to naught. With the other princes of Europe Benedict maintained peaceful relations. He was praised for his scrupulous conduct toward his relatives, to whom he showed no particular favor; his only niece was married very modestly; only his nephew John of Cardone, a respected man, was granted the archbishopric of Arles in Oct. 1341.
He died in Avignon on 25 Apr. 1342 and was buried in the cathedral. The Cistercians venerate him as blessed.