# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/pope-john-viii
# Generated: 2026-09-01T13:47:10.230Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/pope-john-viii"
name: "Pope John VIII"
slug: "pope-john-viii"
description: "The first pope confirmed to have been murdered in office — bludgeoned and poisoned in December 882 after a decade spent trying to keep Muslim armies from Rome while the Frankish and Byzantine empires watched from the sidelines."
tagline: "Head of the Catholic Church from 872 to 882"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Ludvi2_Jan8.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Italy"
  isoCode: "IT"
category:
  name: "Religious Figures"
  slug: "religious-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Religious Figure"
  slug: "religious-figure"
birthDate: "820"
deathDate: "0882-12-16"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           64.2
  momentum:             15
  historical:           23.59940933333333
  currentAttention:     1.678571428571429
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "RISING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 80
tags:
  - name: "Religious Figures"
    slug: "religious-figures"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Religion"
    slug: "religion"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_VIII"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170504"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Pope%20John%20VIII"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%86%D8%A7_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86"
    title: "يوحنا الثامن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%86%D8%A7_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86"
    title: "يوحنا التامن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuan_VIII"
    title: "Xuan VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bcl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_Juan_VIII"
    title: "Papa Juan VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AF%D0%BD_VIII_(%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0_%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96)"
    title: "Ян VIII (папа рымскі)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AF%D0%BD_VIII_(%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0_%D0%A0%D1%8B%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96)"
    title: "Ян VIII (Папа Рымскі)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%99%D0%BE%D0%B0%D0%BD_VIII_(%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0)"
    title: "Йоан VIII (папа)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_VIII_(pab)"
    title: "Yann VIII (pab)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_Joan_VIII"
    title: "Papa Joan VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cdo.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A1u-hu%C3%B2ng_Ioannes_8-si%C3%A9"
    title: "Gáu-huòng Ioannes 8-sié"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ceb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_VIII"
    title: "Juan VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_VIII."
    title: "Jan VIII."
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pave_Johannes_8."
    title: "Pave Johannes 8."
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_VIII._(Papst)"
    title: "Johannes VIII. (Papst)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://diq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_VIII"
    title: "Johannes VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%AC%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%82_%CE%99%CF%89%CE%AC%CE%BD%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%97%CE%84"
    title: "Πάπας Ιωάννης Η΄"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johano_la_8-a"
    title: "Johano la 8-a"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_VIII"
    title: "Juan VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_VIII_(paavst)"
    title: "Johannes VIII (paavst)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_VIII.a"
    title: "Joan VIII.a"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%BE%D8%A7%D9%BE_%DA%98%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%87%D8%B4%D8%AA%D9%85"
    title: "پاپ ژان هشتم"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_VIII_(paavi)"
    title: "Johannes VIII (paavi)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Papa_Giovanni_VIII"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://sr.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%B0_%D0%88%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD_VIII"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pous_Johannes_VIII"
    title: "Pous Johannes VIII"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_VIII._(Papst)"
    title: "Johannes VIII. (Papst)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  John VIII took the papal throne on 14 December 872 and immediately faced a problem neither prayer nor diplomacy seemed able to solve: Muslim forces advancing through southern Italy with Rome in their path. When appeals to the Franks and Byzantines went nowhere, he fortified the city himself. He spent political capital elsewhere too, backing the missionary Methodius of Thessalonica against Carolingian and Bavarian opposition and authorizing a Slavonic Bible translation that would shape Eastern European Christianity for centuries. He also formally recognized the Duchy of Croatia and patched the Photian schism that had split Rome and Constantinople. On 16 December 882, someone inside his own court ended it with a club and poison. The papacy never recovered its footing.