John XVI (c. 945 – c. 1001; born Greek: Ιωάννης Φιλάγαθος, Ioannis Philagathos;[1] Italian: Giovanni Filagato; Latin: Johannes Philagathus) was an antipope from 997 to 998.
[6] The region was at the time a territory of the Byzantine Empire, while John was the chaplain of the Greek-born Empress Theophanu,[7] wife of Holy Roman Emperor Otto II.
By the Empress's persuasion, John was appointed Bishop of Piacenza, and he was sent to Constantinople to accompany home a Byzantine princess for the younger Otto.
Otto III stopped to be acclaimed King of Lombardy at Pavia, and failed to reach Rome before the Pope died.
A synod of the Western bishops held in 997 at the Imperial capital in Italy, Pavia, made no mention of John, but excommunicated Crescentius the Younger.