Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Joannes III, bishop of Rome

Joannes (348) III., bp. of Rome, after Pelagius, July 18, 560, to July 12, 573, ordained after a vacancy of 4 months and 17 days, was the son of a person of distinction at Rome (Anastas. Lib. Pont.). There are two incidents in which his name appears. Two bishops in Gaul had been deposed by a synod held by order of king Guntram at Lyons under the metropolitan Nicetius. The deposed prelates obtained the king's leave to appeal to Rome, and John III. ordered their restoration (Greg. Turon. Hist. l. v. cc. 20, 27). The second incident is mentioned by Anastasius (Lib. Pont. in Vit. Joann. III.), and by Paulus

Diaconus (i. 5). The exarch Narses, having retired to Naples, there invited the Lombards to invade Italy. The pope went to him, and persuaded him to return to Rome. This incident, discredited by Baronius (Ann. 567, Nos. 8–12) is credited by Pagi and Muratori (cf. Gibbon, c. xlv.).

[J.B—Y.]