However there have been numerous disagreements about a possible cover-up leading to rumors of an assassination and conspiracy involving Vatican officials, crooked financiers and the Freemasons.
John Paul I was not the only Pope murdered in the history of the Papacy. He joins an exclusive club of 17 murdered Popes. This list does not count the 13 martyred Popes of the early church. There is also a group of 10 Popes who possibly might have been murdered. The last Pope alleged to be murdered was Boniface VIII who died in 1303 CE.
The Smiling Pope
When Paul VI died, the Conclave of cardinals met to choose a new Pope, and they offered it to Albino Luciani who refused the appointment the first time because he didn't feel qualified for the job nor did he want it. He described himself this way, "I am just a poor man accustomed to small things and silence." He had not campaigned for the position and was shocked when his name was chosen.
When the cardinals persisted, Albino Luciani felt that he had to accept the offer, and assumed his new name, Pope John Paul I. His predecessor, Paul VI was a sick man, afflicted with arthritis and other bodily ailments, who exhibited very little personal magnetism and was not popular among the laity.
When Pope John Paul I was elected, the first thing he did was to open the door to the papal balcony and walk out smiling and waving at the crowds gathered below--thus earning his nickname "The Smiling Pope." Some said that he was like a fresh ray of sunshine in the Vatican. Others said that John Paul I smiled more during those few seconds more than Paul VI did during his entire reign as Pope. The crowds were delighted with their new Pope.
The New Pope
His first day on the job, John Paul I immediately found himself in a viper's nest of Vatican corruption. He discovered that the Vatican Bank, the church's most important financial institution which operated closely with the Banco Ambrosiano, had lost about a quarter of a billion dollars mysteriously. Paul Marcinkus was the head of the Vatican Bank and Roberto Calvi headed the Banco Ambrosiano. Quietly, the new Pope set about investigating the situation.
In addition, a number of priests and Vatican officials, including Calvi, were involved in Freemasonry, especially an illegal, rogue Italian Freemason lodge known as P2. It has long (1738--Clement XII) been the position of the church that any Catholic involved in Freemasonry must be excommunicated. Over the next few days and weeks, the new Pope questioned everyone involved in the dealings and came up with a list of people involved in questionable activities.
The night before his death, John Paul I presented Cardinal Jean Villot, the Vatican Secretary of State, with a list of people involved with P2 to be transferred, terminated or reassigned. The resulting redistribution of power would have resounding implications within the Vatican power structure and its financial dealings.
Later that night, the Pope might have been sitting up in his bed studying this list and contemplating turning it over to the authorities. The list consisted of over 100 Masons, ranging from cardinals to priests.
Death of the Pope
At approximately 4:45 AM on September 29, Sister Vicenza found the Pope's body sitting upright in his bed with the lights on. There was an expression of agony on his face, and he held a paper in his hand. The time of death was never officially issued, however the body was in a state of complete rigor mortis to the extent that later the embalmers had to break his back in order to place the body in a prone position in preparation for public viewing.
Once Cardinal Villot was notified, he immediately ordered the Sister to remain silent on any question involving what she had found and began issuing false statements to the press about the circumstances surround the death. He took the paper from the dead Pope's hand and it was never seen again. Then he ordered the embalming to begin immediately. No autopsy was performed on the body; however this is the customary Vatican practice.
The Vatican officials, household staff and witnesses all failed to agree on the following points:
- Who found the body and when,
- The cause and time of death,
- A secret autopsy and the embalming of the body,
- What the Pope was reading at the time of his death,
- The Pope's health, and
- Certain personal possessions of the Pope which mysteriously disappeared after the body was discovered.
Epilogue
None of these questions was ever satisfactorily resolved. However it is an interesting note that a few years later, in June 1982, Calvi's body was found hanging from the underside of Black Friars Bridge in London shortly after the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano. The police found rocks and bricks in the pockets of his garments which were used to weigh the body down. Eventually his death was ruled a murder and not a suicide. Also his secretary had tumbled to her own death from the 4th floor window of Banks International Headquarters on the previous day.
The Canonization of John Paul I
The canonization process began in 1990 when 226 Brazilian bishops and 4 cardinals signed the petition. The Vatican is now investigating the miraculous cancer cure of Guiseppe Denora di Altamura who claimed to have prayed to Pope John Paul I for healing. Once approved, this will conclude the beatification process and 2 more miracles must be verified before John Paul I can be canonized into sainthood.
Sources:
A Thief in the Night: Life and Death in the Vatican by John Cornwell; Penguin Books; 1989
In God's Name: An investigation Into the Murder of Pope John Paul I ; by David Yallop; Basic Books; 2007
Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy by Peter De Rosa; Crown Publishers; 1988
Diane Evans - I am a retired civil engineer as well as a member of Sisters in Crime and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
