pope from 1024 to 1032.

A member of the Tusculani family that followed the powerful Crescentii as rulers of Rome, he was a layman when he succeeded his brother Pope Benedict VIII in April/May 1024; he was accused of obtaining the office through bribery. On Easter 1027 he crowned as Holy Roman emperor the German king Conrad II, who controlled his ecclesiastical affairs except in Rome. Generally considered inept as pope because of his greed, John, according to a contemporary account of questionable reliability, consented to be paid for recognizing the patriarch of Constantinople. A public outcry forced him to withdraw the agreement.