John XVI (or XVII)
Pope, a native of Greece, a Calabrian and bishop of Piacenza, was appointed in 997 by Crescentius, in opposition to Gregory V; but when Otho III, in February, 998, brought Gregory V back to Rome, he imprisoned, mutilated, and ill treated John most shamefully, and put to death Crescentius and his partisans. (See GREGORY V.) Though a rival pope, and in office only ten months, John is generally numbered in the series of the popes.