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.]