JOHN XVII, POPE

Pontificate: May 16 to Nov. 6, 1003. He was a native of Rome, called John Sicco, and a member of the party of the crescentii before his election. After the death of sylvester ii, John was made pope by the patricius Crescentius III (d. 1012), who had exercised great influence over Roman affairs since the death of otto iii in January 1002. Before he had taken orders he had been married and was father of three sons, who also became ecclesiastics. There exist no reports of the activities of his short pontificate, except the fact that he was obviously a puppet of the Crescentii.

Bibliography: j. haller, Das Papsttum, 5 v. (2d, rev. ed. Stuttgart 1950–53) 2:229, 562. r. poupardin, "Note sur la chronologie de Jean XVII, " Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 21 (1901) 387–390. p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christian natum 1198, ed. s. lÖwenfeld 1:501. e. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 8.1:629. g. schwaiger, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) ; suppl., Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil: Dokumente und Kommentare, ed. h. s. brechter et al., pt. 1 (1966) 5:992. r. aubert, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 26 (Paris 1997), s.v. "Jean XVII (XVIII), pape." r. benericetti, La cronologia dei Pape dei secoli IX–XI secondo le carte di Ravenna (1999), 55. j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986), 138.

[w. m. plÖchl]