The Conclave opened on 13 December 1334. The early discussions were not about a particular candidate, but about the need to extract a promise from all the candidates that the new Pope would move the Roman Curia back to Rome. John XXII had made promises in that direction, and his failure, with one excuse after another, seriously angered the senior Italian cardinal, Napoleone Orsini. Cardinal Napoleone therefore led a group of cardinals who were demanding a return to Rome. Cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand led a group of French cardinals who were just as determined to keep the Curia in Avignon. According to Giovanni Villani, the cardinals led by Talleyrand thought that they had found a pope in Cardinal Jean-Raymond de Comminges. But when he was approached and asked to take the oath that was being demanded, he refused. Finally, on 20 December 1334, a sufficient number of votes was accumulated by the Cistercian Cardinal Jacques Fournier, who became Pope Benedict XII.