Pope John Paul I - 1978
Albino Luciani, was born at "Forno di Canale (Belluno), (actually at Canale d'Argordo), son of Giovanni Luciani and Bortola Tancon; was baptized the same day at home, by the midwife, as he was in danger of death. He became Patriarch of Venice in 1969 and then was made cardinal in 1973. As a Cardinal, he had never drafted documents from the dry heart of the Vatican at all, or served overseas in the papal diplomatic service. He had, in fact, only rarely been outside Italy in his life.
Pope Paul VI died on August 6, 1978. On 26 August 1978, during the second day of the conclave, was Albino Luciani elected Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, choosing the name John Paul I. Cheerful and low-key, he was soon dubbed the Smiling Pope and the Laughing Pope by admirers.
The new Pope gave a glimpse of his personal style with the plans for his Sept. 3 open-air accession ceremonies. At his direction it was not called a "coronation" or even a scaled-down "enthronement," but simply a "solemn Mass to mark the start of his ministry as Supreme Pastor." John Paul asked not to be carried on the usual portable throne but to walk in procession. Most significant, he did not wish to be crowned with the triple-decked, bee hive-shaped tiara. Instead, a pallium, the white woolen stole symbolizing his title of Patriarch of the West, would be placed on his shoulders. In his inaugural address to the Cardinals, John Paul pledged to carry forward the work of the Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962 and concluded by Paul in 1965.
John Paul I died unexpectedly on 28 September 1978 after 34 days in office. The Vatican said a heart attack was the cause of death. Pope John Paul II succeeded him.
In the book In God's Name, author David Yallop contends that the sudden death of Albino Luciani just 33 days after he became Pope John Paul I was not due to natural causes. Yallop presents in detail the motives of six men who may have feared the new pontiff's plans for investigations and changes. The Vatican Bank scandal had a dramatic opening in June 1982 when Calvi, who was known as "God's banker" because of his Vatican connections, was found hanging from London's Blackfriars Bridge, his pockets stuffed with $13,000 in / various currencies. Later Michele Sindona, the corrupt Italian financier who introduced Calvi to Marcinkus, died in jail after drinking a cup of coffee laced with potassium cyanide.
A similar plotline (not mentioning John Paul by name) was used in the 1990 Francis Ford Coppola film The Godfather Part III.
The Vatican responded by giving its blessing to an investigation by British journalist John Cornwell, whose book, A Thief in the Night, was released in Britain in May 1989. Cornwell concluded that John Paul I died of a pulmonary embolism, his death apparently resulting from long-standing medical problems that were exacerbated by the early pressures of being Pope.
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