Pope John Paul I died suddenly in September 1978, 33 days after his election. Following his death, several conspiracy theories have sprung up.
Pope John Paul I died suddenly in September 1978, 33 days after his election. Following his death, several conspiracy theories have sprung up.
Discrepancies in the Vatican's account of the events surrounding Pope John Paul I's death—its inaccurate statements about who found the body; [1] what he had been reading; when, where, and whether an autopsy could be carried out [1] [2] —produced a number of conspiracy theories, many associated with the Vatican Bank, which owned a large share in Banco Ambrosiano.
Some conspiracy theorists connect the pope's death with the image of the "bishop dressed in white" said to have been seen by Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto during the visitations of Our Lady of Fátima in 1917. [3] [4] In a letter to a colleague, John Paul had said he was deeply moved by having met Lucia and vowed to perform the Consecration of Russia in accordance with her vision. [5]
David Yallop's 1984 book In God's Name proposed the theory that the pope had been in "potential danger" because of corruption in the Vatican Bank (known officially as the Institute for Works of Religion or Istituto per le Opere di Religione), the Vatican's most powerful financial institution [6] which owned many shares in Banco Ambrosiano. The Vatican Bank lost several hundred million dollars. [7]
This corruption was real [8] and is known to have involved the bank's head, Bishop Paul Marcinkus, along with Roberto Calvi of the Banco Ambrosiano. Marcinkus, at the time head of the Vatican Bank, was indicted in Italy in 1982 as an accessory in the $3.5 billion collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. [9] Calvi was a member of P2, an illegal Italian Masonic lodge. [10] He was found dead in London in 1982, after disappearing just before the corruption became public. His death was initially ruled suicide and a second inquest – ordered by his family – then returned an open verdict. [11] In October 2002 forensic experts appointed by Italian judges concluded that the banker had been murdered. [12]
In his 2012 book The Power and The Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II's Vatican, Yallop writes that Luciani had been given a list of 121 Masons and on September 28 (the day of his death) had advised Jean-Marie Villot, at that time Cardinal Secretary of State, with personnel transfers. [13] Yallop specifically summarized his conspiracy theory in his 1984 book: Three archbishops—Marcinkus, Villot and Cody—conspired with three Mafia types—Calvi, Sindona and Gelli—in the murder of John Paul I. "It was clear that these six men—Marcinkus, Villot, Cody, Calvi, Sindona and Gelli—had a great deal to fear if the papacy of John Paul I should continue... all of them stood to gain in a variety of ways if John Paul I should suddenly die." [14]
In his book A Thief in the Night , British historian and journalist John Cornwell examines and challenges Yallop's points of suspicion. Yallop's murder theory requires that the pope's body be found at 4:30 or 4:45 a.m., one hour earlier than official reports estimated. [15] He bases this, inter alia, on an early story by Vatican Radio and the Italian news service ANSA that garbled the time and misrepresented the layout of the papal apartments. Yallop says he had testimony from Sister Vincenza Taffarel (the nun who found the pope's body) to this effect but refused to show Cornwell his transcripts. [16]
Theologian Abbé Georges de Nantes spent much of his life building a case for murder against the Vatican, collecting statements from people who knew the pope before and after his election. His writings go into detail about the banks and about John Paul I's supposed discovery of a number of Freemason priests in the Vatican, along with a number of his proposed reforms and devotion to Our Lady of Fátima. [17]
According to the Catholic Traditionalist Movement organization, their founder Fr. Gommar DePauw was to have gone to Rome to help John Paul I reestablish the Tridentine Mass: [18]
[Fr. DePauw] stated on the 15th anniversary of the pope's death: "Well, I tell you one thing, if he had remained Pope, you wouldn't have me here at the Chapel because with that beautiful official letter signed by the Secretary of State, also came an unofficial message that I better start packing my suitcase, that there was a job waiting for me in Rome, in the Vatican, to help Pope John Paul I bring the Truth back to the Church. Well, it wasn't to be and the Lord, Who knows what He does, obviously wanted me to be in this Chapel. [...] What was I going to do in Rome? Well let's just forget it."
Other prominent Traditionalist Catholic websites, not related to CTM, have suggested John Paul I may have been assassinated to prevent restoration of the Tridentine Mass. [19]
In his 2017 book The Godmother: Madre Pascalina, [20] Fr. Charles Murr writes about the coincidence that Pope John Paul I had attempted to discipline [21] Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, who appointed many "liberal" bishops including, later, the defrocked ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and that Cdl. Baggio was the last person to have seen Pope John Paul I alive. [22]
In his book When the Bullet Hits the Bone, which was published in 2019, Anthony Raimondi (who claims to be a nephew of Lucky Luciano) says he helped his cousin Archbishop Paul Marcinkus kill the pope by putting valium in his tea to knock him out, then poisoning him with cyanide. The reason given was that John Paul had allegedly threatened to expose "a massive stock fraud run by Vatican insiders". Raimondi says that plans were made to also assassinate John Paul II had the latter decided to expose the fraud. Raimondi says that "If they take [the pope's body] and do any type of testing, they will still find traces of the poison in his system." [23]
Malachi Martin's 1986 book Vatican: A Novel is a novel based on recent papal history. [24]
In December 1986, a play by Mark E. Smith of British post-punk band The Fall, Hey! Luciani: The Life and Codex of John Paul I , was staged for two weeks in London, starring performance artist Leigh Bowery. It drew on conspiracy theories about the pope's death. The Fall's single "Hey! Luciani" reached number 59 on the UK singles chart in December [25] of that year. [26] [27]
The Last Confession is a play written in 2007 by Roger Crane. It is a thriller that tracks the dramatic tensions, crises of faith, and political manoeuvrings inside the Vatican surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I. [28]
The plot of the film The Godfather Part III features a version of the Vatican Bank conspiracy theory, and it includes the ballot totals from the August 1978 papal conclave, as reported by Yallop, with the fictional character of Cardinal Lamberto being elected and taking the name of John Paul I.
Pope John Paul I was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent year of three popes and the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement VII in 1523.
Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker, dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close business dealings with the Holy See. He was a native of Milan and was chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of Italy's biggest political scandals.
Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank that was established in 1896 and collapsed in 1982. The Vatican-based Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder. The Vatican Bank was accused of funnelling covert United States funds to the Polish trade union Solidarity and to the Nicaraguan Contras through Banco Ambrosiano.
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from the screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, and Sofia Coppola. It is the third and final installment in The Godfather trilogy. A sequel to The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), it concludes the fictional story of Michael Corleone, the patriarch of the Corleone family who attempts to legitimize his criminal empire. The film also includes fictionalized accounts of two real-life events: the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–1982, both linked to Michael Corleone's business affairs.
The Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, is a financial institution that is situated inside Vatican City and run by a Board of Superintendence, which reports to a Commission of Cardinals and the Pope. It is not a private bank, as there are no owners or shareholders; it has been established in the form of a juridical canonical foundation, pursuant to its statutes. Since 9 July 2014, its president is Jean-Baptiste de Franssu. The IOR is regulated by the Vatican's financial supervisory body ASIF.
David Anthony Yallop was a British author who wrote chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s, he contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows, including Minder. In the same decade he also wrote 10 episodes for the ITV court drama, Crown Court.
The papal conclave held on 25 and 26 August 1978 was the first of the two held that year. It was convoked to elect a successor to Paul VI, who had died on 6 August 1978. After the cardinal electors assembled in Rome, they elected Cardinal Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, as the new pope on the fourth ballot. He accepted the election and took the name John Paul I.
Paul Casimir Marcinkus was an American archbishop of the Catholic Church and president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, from 1971 to 1989.
The Banda della Magliana was an Italian criminal organization based in Rome. It was founded in 1975. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of some of its members.
Cardinal Lamberto is a fictional character appearing in the 1990 film The Godfather Part III. He is portrayed by Italian actor Raf Vallone.
Pavol Mária Hnilica, S.J. was a Slovak prelate of the Catholic Church who served as a titular bishop of Rusadir from 1964 until his death in 2006.
In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I is a book by David A. Yallop about the death of Pope John Paul I. It was published in 1984 by Bantam Books.
The Last Confession is a stage play by Roger Crane about the election and death of Pope John Paul I. The play follows Giovanni Benelli who recounts, during his last confession, his role in the death of John Paul and how this led him to lose his faith. It premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre on 27 April 2007.
The Assassini is a 1990 thriller novel by American author Thomas Gifford, published by Bantam Books.
Vatican conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories that concern the Pope or the Roman Catholic Church. A majority of the theories allege that the Church and its representatives are secretly controlling secular society with a satanic agenda for global domination.
The moral theology of Pope John Paul I has been openly debated, particularly as regards his expressed opinions on Humanae Vitae, artificial insemination and homosexuality, which feature significantly in Pope John Paul I conspiracy theories.
Giorgio Ambrosoli was an Italian lawyer who was gunned down while investigating the malpractice of banker Michele Sindona.
The Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair is an Italian drama film directed in 2002 by Giuseppe Ferrara.
Pope John Paul I: The Smile of God is a 2006 Italian television movie written and directed by Giorgio Capitani. The film is based on real life events of Roman Catholic Pope John Paul I.
Georges de Nantes, better known as "Abbé de Nantes" was a theologian and traditionalist Catholic priest. He was the founder of the League for Catholic Counter-Reformation considered a cult by the French non-profit UNADFI.