Here's an omline summary...does it sound like him?
http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/popep194.htm
This particular passage from NewAdvent is why I think it is John XXII that I am trying to remember:
In the last years of John's pontificate there arose a
dogmatic conflict about the
Beatific Vision, which was brought on by himself, and which his enemies made use of to discredit him. Before his elevation to the
Holy See, he had written a work on this question, in which he stated that the
souls of the
blessed departed do not see
God until after the Last Judgment. After becoming
pope, he advanced the same teaching in his
sermons. In this he met with strong opposition, many
theologians, who adhered to the usual opinion that the
blessed departed did see
God before the
Resurrection of the Body and the Last Judgment, even calling his view
heretical. A great commotion was aroused in the
University of Paris when the General of the
Minorites and a
Dominican tried to disseminate there the
pope's view.
Pope John wrote to
King Philip IV on the matter (November, 1333), and emphasized the fact that, as long as the
Holy See had not given a decision, the
theologians enjoyed perfect freedom in this matter. In December, 1333, the
theologians at
Paris, after a consultation on the question, decided in favour of the
doctrine that the
souls of the
blessed departed saw
God immediately after death or after their complete purification; at the same
time they pointed out that the
pope had given no decision on this question but only advanced his personal opinion, and now petitioned the
pope to confirm their decision. John appointed a commission at
Avignon to study the writings of the Fathers, and to discuss further the disputed question. In a consistory held on 3 January, 1334, the
pope explicitly declared that he had never meant to teach aught contrary to
Holy Scripture or the
rule of faith and in fact had not intended to give any decision whatever. Before his death he withdrew his former opinion, and declared his
belief that
souls separated from their bodies enjoyed in
heaven the
Beatific Vision.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08431a.htm
