uch as were associated with
the employment of Church privileges for the accumulation of money.
Certain Catholic historians even have not found themselves able to rid
their appreciation of the character of Pope John from similar
objections. It is acknowledged that he was one of the most learned men
of his time. It is confessed that he was one of the most abstemious of
men. Indeed, in this respect he has been very appropriately compared
with Pope Leo XIII. He did succeed in setting the Papacy on a firm
foundation in Avignon, and did arrange the financial economy of the
Church in such a way that large amounts of money were bound to
accumulate in the Papal treasury.

This has been the main element of the accusations against him. A
prominent American encyclopaedia summed up his character very
trenchantly as follows: "He was learned in Canon Law and was
remarkable for avarice." Many have not hesitated to say that even his
condemnation of alchemy had for its main purpose {139} the idea of
added revenues for the Papal See, by the fines inflicted, and by the
confiscation of the goods of those condemned as well as by the Court
fees in the matter, though there is nothing in the decree to justify
such an opinion, and we have pointed out that the fines collected
were, according to the document itself, to be given to the poor.

With the ecclesiastical aspects of Pope John's character we have
nothing to do here. It would require a large volume by itself properly
to tell the story of his life, for he was one of the most influential
men of an important time, and though he ascended the Papal throne when
he was past seventy, he lived to be ninety, and his pontificate is
filled with evidence of his strenuous activity till the end of his
life. There is no doubt that the regulations for which he is
responsible with regard to the Papal finances eventually led to very
serious abuses in the Church. It is easy to understand, however, how
special arrangements had to be made for the support of the Holy See at
Avignon. Pope John XXII.'s predecessor, Clement, was the first Pope
who, because of the unsettled state of affairs in Italy and the
influence of the French King, resolved to live at Avignon instead of
Rome. Under these circumstances, the ordinary sources of revenue for
the support of the Papal Court, which required comparatively as
expensive an establishment then as now, were more or less cut off.
During the first pontificate at Avignon, th