Pope Benedict XII

Jacques Fournier was a cardinal and inquisitor before his election on 30 December 1334. Once pope, he reformed monastic orders and worked against nepotism, but couldn't move the papal seat back to Rome or even to Bologna - so he started construction on the great palace at Avignon that would define the exile. His papacy centered on two struggles: one theological, one political. The theological fight he won, issuing the bull Benedictus Deus to resolve John XXII's beatific vision controversy by declaring that souls could reach the fullness of seeing God before the Last Judgment. The political fight he lost - despite repeated diplomatic efforts, he couldn't bring Emperor Louis IV and the Holy Roman Empire back under papal control. He died in Avignon on 25 April 1342 and was buried there.