The conclave of Carpentras finds the new cardinals divided. Gangs paid by the nephew of Clement V pillage the city, burn the houses and kill the Italians. They even lock the cardinals in the episcopal palace, from which they escape. After 2 years of delay they succeed in electing Jacques Duèse , cardinal of Porto, in the Dominican monastery, where, this time blocked by the troops of the king, they need 6 months to decide.
Jean XXII is elected because of his advanced age, 72, allowing normally for only a temporary reign.
Former bishop of Avignon, naturally he will stay there, and despite his intention to return the papacy to Rome, he will remain there until his death 18 years later. Thanks to him, the church grows richer. Jean XXII perfects the pontifical tax system. He reserves for himself the power of all episcopal nominations and spreads Christianity in the east. He combats and suppresses the inquisition.
He obtains freedom for the Italian Guelphic Cities and for the King of Naples against the emperor Louis of Bavaria , crowned in Rome and who had proclamed an anti-pape : Nicolas V (1328). Eventually chased out by the Romans, he will come to Avignon to ask for forgiveness. There he will die in captivity in 1333.
On his death bed, Jean XXII retracts the proposals stated during his last sermons. He dies on December 4, 1334.