GIOVANNI XV, POPE. — Roman, elected in Aug. 985, died in March 996. He is remembered in some lists of popes as Giov. XVI, since another Giov. XV was erroneously inserted before him; hence in those lists the addition of one unit to the number of all the popes up to Giov. XIX and the absence of a Giov. XX.
Elected perhaps through an agreement between the imperial and anti-imperial factions, he had to leave the direction of political affairs to Giovanni Crescenzi. Then, having fled to Tuscany, he implored the help of Otto III. As Otto approached Rome, G. was received back into the city, but died before Otto entered II.
G. XV, who is remembered as an expert in arms and the author of many books, displayed very notable religious activity. He imposed peace (991) on Etelredo, king of England, and Riccardo, duke of Normandy; in a Synod held at Rome (31 Oct. 993), he canonized Ulrico, bishop of Augusta, the first known example of a canonization carried out by a pope. He energetically asserted the authority of the papacy in a very grave controversy that broke out in France, the first sensational episode of Gallicanism. At the behest of Ugo and Roberto, kings of France, a Synod of bishops of Gaul had been convened on 17 June 991 at St-Basle of Verzy (Reims) to judge Arnolfo, archbishop of Reims, accused of treason. Since Arnolfo’s defenders objected, on the basis of the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, that the Council was incompetent to judge the matter, which had already been referred to the Pontiff, the most bitter accusations against the Holy See and the Roman clergy had been voiced in the assembly; and the Council, in practice denying the Pope’s authority over the national Churches, had compelled Arnolfo to resign, replacing him with the celebrated Gerberto. The Pope summoned the bishops and the two Kings to Rome (992), but a new Council at Chelles, under the presidency of Roberto, decided to resist the orders issued from Rome “against the canons of the Fathers,” while the King invited the Pope to go to France. G. instead sent the Roman abbot Leone, who convened at Mouzon, on the border between France and Germany, a Synod of bishops, all, except Gerberto, subjects of the German Kingdom (2 June 995): Gerberto, invited to abstain from all ecclesiastical functions until a new council, submitted; the bishops who had taken part in Arnolfo’s deposition were likewise deposed. The subsequent course of the controversy is disputed: it is certain only that Arnolfo, after Ugo and G. XV had already died, was restored to the see of Reims by Gerberto, who had become Pope Silvestro II.