His attempt to mobilize the East Frankish episcopate led by Archbishop Unni of Bremen to his cause at the 916 synod of Hohenaltheim was not enough to compensate.
He sent a papal legate to a synod of bishops convoked by Conrad at Altheim in 916, with the result that the synod ordered Conrad’s opponents to present themselves before Pope John at Rome if they did not appear before another synod for judgement, under pain of excommunication.