Bishop of Riez on 31 March 1318 by Pope John XXII, after the incumbent Galhard Saumate was transferred to Maguelonne. Desprès was not the first choice; Galhard de Pressac, Bishop of Toulouse refused the transfer. He received the episcopal consecration from Cardinal Nicolò Albertini, Bishop of Ostia, before 7 May 1318. Pierre Desprès held the diocese until 11 September 1318. On 11 September 1318 he was appointed archbishop of Aix, a position he held for an equally brief time, until 20 December 1320. Cardinal In the consistory of 20 December 1320, the third of his reign for the promotion of cardinals, Pope John XXII created Pierre Desprès a Cardinal Priest. He was apparently not in Avignon at the time, since he went for some weeks without having a title assigned. On 28 January 1321 he was still without a title, when he was granted the benefice of the church of S. Laugerius in the diocese of Aix. But in due course he received the title of Santa Pudenziana. Then he was named bishop of Palestrina (25 May 1323) and Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church (20 April 1325 – 7 May 1361). That pair of promotions was extraordinarily swift, showing the degree of confidence placed in Pierre Desprès' skills by Pope John XXII. In February 1326, Cardinal Desprès sat as an examiner in the case of William de Cotes, who had appeared at the Papal Court attempting to obtain relief against the Bishop of Worcester, who had sequestrated the rectory of Seynesbury. The Bishop had written to the Pope, pointing out that the benefice had been obtained with forged bulls, supplied by one William de Alveston, a cleric of the diocese of Worcester; William de Cotes confessed to Cardinal Pierre, and the arrest and interrogation of William de Alveston was ordered. In July 1327, the Cardinal consecrated Walter, Bishop of Cork in Ireland. In 1332 Pope John XXII commissioned Cardinal Pierre Desprès and Cardinal Pierre de Mortemart of Limoges to act as arbitrators in the dispute between Ademar de la Voulte, Bishop of Valence (1331-1336), and Aymar of Poitou Count of Valence, over the ownership of the town of Crista. Conclave of 1334 Pope John XXII died in the Apostolic Palace in Avignon on 4 December 1334. The day before, he held a meeting at his deathbed of the cardinals who were in Avignon. At this meeting he made his