Pope John XV

John XV was born in Rome and rose to the papacy in August 985. His pontificate marked a quiet procedural revolution: he became the first pope to canonize a saint, formalizing what had been a more diffuse process. But his reign is remembered less for ritual innovation than for a bitter jurisdictional fight. The controversy over deposing Archbishop Arnulf of Reims put him at odds with the Capetian kings of France and planted the seeds of the investiture controversy — the long, brutal struggle over who held the power to appoint bishops. He died in March 996, having reigned a decade and left the c…