What was the reaction when the Last Pope - John Paul I - died?

As someone who wasn't around at that time, I'm curious what the reaction when John Paul I died, specifically because he was pope for such a short period of time - it was only a few months wasn't it?

Were people shocked that he died so soon after taking the position or were people largely indifferent b/c they hadn't gotten to know him?

I actually read some of his philosophy essays back in high school, incidentally.

can't go rocking the boat too much, even if you're Pope, I guess....

eom

he only lasted about 31 days

He was Pope for about 6 weeks, right?

...and feeling very confused (thinking they were still talking about Pope Paul VI).

It made for a fascinating sub-plot in The Godfather III, though...;)

:tinfoilhat:

It was weird, though, that he had died so quickly. People were really shocked.

..... the underworld. A person w/ knowledge of the goings on w/
the church money wound up swinging under a bridge in London.

:tinfoilhat:

....and Sophia Coppola destroying a treasured franchise.

Truly a dark time.

She might know how to direct but she was GAWD AWFULL

:puke:

The first time I saw Godfather III, I was practically cheering when she was killed.

But, she's an awesome director.

....... Don Mike Corelona's cousin. Blow chunks!
i remember I watched the movie w/ a cute girl and that "acting" made
me want to run from the theater.

LOL

I think I just lost my appetite.

The fact they were related increased the grossness by 100. eww.

I suffered through it once, so I'll never feel the need to watch it again.

...... was not the rolling of the pasta, hands touching, forced lines,
and the awkward kiss just the bomb?

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

last hiccup ;)

of the short time he was Pope.

Wasn't he only in his late fifties?

At the time it was mostly shock. Later the general talk in the Catholic circle was that he may have taken his own life. Short Pope reigns aren't that uncommon.

I was a reporter for a small daily newspaper in NJ in 1978, when pope John Paul I died. It was the Sunday night overnight shift. The night editor summoned me up to his desk and told me to start calling people for reaction to the death of the Pope.

"What is this, a joke?" I told him. "Very funny."

He painstakingly explained to me that word had come on the AP wire that the new Pope, John Paul, had just died after 33 days on the job. I refused to believe the editor until he showed me the wire report.
Then I started making calls to prominent local people to get their comments. Almost all of them were as stunned and filled with diebelief as I was.

flip spide of JP2. JP1 was identified with the now effectively defunct liberal wing of the church. JP2 was identified with the eastern european and US oriented right wing of the church... and he proceeded to lead the church in that direction.( And supervise the purging of the ranks of progressives; one should remember this during the coming days of high-profile theatrics, wailing and gnashing of teeth that we no doubt have ahead of us at the passing of this living "saint".)

Here's the part that doesn't make sense: the same college of cardinals that selected JP1, selected JP2. Why?

Perhaps students of church politics can enlighten the not-so-faithful on this point.

...spoke out on some level about rejecting socialism when he was young. But it turned out that once he was selected he embraced a very intense left-wing orientation. At the ceremony where they install the pope, he wouldn't use the papal crown and throne (or whatever it is they use) and he refused to be carried into St Peter's on a chair. Instead he walked. I think he also refused to wear the elaborate robes and wore something very simple, and Christlike, one might say. I might have some of this wrong, but that's how I remember it. Oh, and he was also going to fire a lot of people from the bank the pope runs.

So, before he was appointed, he probably seemed like a really popular, nice guy who turned away from liberal politics and embraced the church instead. But right from the beginning of his papacy, he proved that no matter whether you call yourself a communist or socialist or anti-communist or anti-socialist, if you believe in giving power to the people and breaking down hierarchies, you're a threat to the far right-wingers, and even tiny gestures, however symbolic, are a huge threat to the hierarchy.

What were the political dynamics within the c of cardinals and the church hierarchy at that time? Why a seemingly decisive step in one direction followed a month later by a complete philosophical reversal?

So folks got over it pretty quickly and moved on.

but I found this intresting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I

I didn't suspect foul play, but dang what was it, a month? I thought maybe that's why they picked a relatively young pope for John Paul II.

My husband was in the shower when I heard it on the news. When he came out of the bathroom, I said, "Guess what. The Pope died." He said, "I know." I said, "No, he died." and he repeated, "Yeah, I KNOW. That's why they elected another one." So I said, "No, you're not understanding me. HE died."

And his response was, just like you said, "Aw jeez..........here we go again.........."

I'll do the same now.

RL

The title is In God's name: An Investigation Into The Murder of Pope John Paul I by David A Yallop. I read it years ago, so it might be out of print at this point. (I own a copy.) However, it is a great read if you can get a hold of it.

Here it is at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553050737/qid=1112402075/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-5226742-5292050?v=glance&s=books

But it seems to me that two of them died one right after another.

All I recall was footage of the unusual ceremonial process of choosing the next pope (something about smoke coming out of the chimney of a certain building? Not sure)

I think the coverage was pretty heavy then (like now) but again I was about 14 at the time and not paying very much attention.

His quick death, only 33 days after his election, caused worldwide shock. The official cause of death specified by the Vatican was a myocardial infarction, or a common heart attack. However, this is uncertain to some extent because no autopsy was performed. The Vatican's reporting of the events surrounding his death raised major issues when it was found to contain several falsehoods concerning the identity of the person who found the body, the time of death, the book he had been reading and the alleged disappearance of personal property. Conflicting stories were told as to his health. It was hinted that his ill health was due to heavy smoking; in fact he never smoked. The impact of this misinformation was shown in a headline of the Irish Independent newspaper, "THIRTY-THREE BRAVE DAYS" conveying the image of a weak and ill man physically unable to withstand the pressures of the papacy, and who was in effect killed by it.

The pope's body was embalmed within one day of his death. Wild rumours spread. One rumour claimed that a visiting prelate had recently died from drinking "poisoned coffee" prepared for the pope. A visiting prelate actually had died some days earlier, but there was no evidence of poison. Another unsubstantiated rumour described the pope's plans to dismiss senior Vatican officials over allegations of corruption. The sudden embalming raised suspicions that it had been done to prevent a post-mortem. However the Vatican insisted that a papal post-mortem was prohibited under Vatican law. This too was later revealed to be incorrect: in 1830 a post-mortem was carried out on the remains of Pope Pius VIII, yielding evidence that suggested Pius VIII had been poisoned.

John Paul's death is featured in the movie The Godfather, Part III which insinuates that he was murdered after discovering discrepancies in Church funds. The movie inaccurately depicts the year of his death as 1979 instead of 1978.
Pope John Paul I's tomb under St. Peter's Basilica



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I

DEREK:
Ommmmmm om om ommm .....

CLIVE:
I'll tell you something, er, that religious singing reminded me of something.

DEREK:
Ommmm .....

CLIVE:
Did you, did you see that, er, TV coverage of the, er, the Pope when he was lying in state? The-, the last Pope, you know, John Paul?

DEREK:
Yeah.

CLIVE:
Lying in state? On that-, on that catafalque?

DEREK:
Yeah.

CLIVE:
In those robes?

DEREK:
Yeah, right.

CLIVE:
Didn't half give me the horn, that. Him lying there. He looked so fucking vulnerable, didn't he? I mean, like, I c-, I couldn't prevent myself, you know, having a wank immediately 'cause he looked-, he looked vulnerable, he looked at-, at rest and, er, somebody had, er, gone to the trouble of plucking all that hair out of his nostrils. I didn't fancy him when he was alive 'cause he had all this fucking hair up his nostrils but when they'd, er, when the cosmetician had had a go at his body and that .....

DEREK:
Well, I-, I gather, erm, he had a, you know .....

CLIVE:
I got the fucking horn in .....

DEREK:
Yeah, well .....

CLIVE:
..... just seeing him lying there.

DEREK:
Well, the make-up was fantastic on that. Who done .....

CLIVE:
But I imagine that, er, .....

DEREK:
Who done the wardrobe?

CLIVE:
What, for the Pope's funeral?

DEREK:
Yeah.

CLIVE:
Er-r, was it Verity Lambert, was it?

DEREK:
Was it Mr Fish?

CLIVE:
Mr Fish or .....

DEREK:
Yeah, I don't know .....

CLIVE:
..... or Mrs-, could be Mrs Fish done it? I dunno.

DEREK:
Yeah, I dunno.

CLIVE:
'Cause she does a lot of things.

DEREK:
It was bloody beautiful. But it's interesting, gave you the horn.

CLIVE:
Well, I-, I find I'm, you know, er, .....

DEREK:
Well, you're .....

CLIVE:
..... I'm attracted by, er, .....

DEREK:
You're .....

CLIVE:
..... dead Popes.

DEREK:
By dead Popes. Yeah.

CLIVE:
And, er, you know .....