Pope John Paul First: How did he die, or who killed the Pope after 33 days on duty?

Article by authors Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrell of The Washington Postranslated into Albanian by Periscope.

On the morning of September 29, 1978, the Vatican gave a brief but terrifying statement announcing that Pope John Paul the First had died after a heart attack that his body had been discovered in bed by a priest who served as his personal secretary.

This was the first version of what the vaki had done, at least.

Within days, rumors that something bad had happened spread. The Cardinals were pressured to provide further clarifications. When an Italian network service discovered that the Vatican had misidentified the person who had found the corpse, the sense of mystery only increased: What could explain how a 65 - year - old pope could die just 33 days after becoming a pope?

Four decades later, John Paul the First is in the trajectory toward holiness. The Vatican has announced that he would be happy, as the first miracle was that of healing an 11-year-old seriously ill girl in Buenos Aires in 2011 had happened to his intervention.

But this trajectory has largely to do with doubts about his death.

Over the years, only a small number of people have dealt with this case, each of which has drasticly different approaches. The legacy of John Paul the First is defined not only by mystery and conspiracy but also by competitive efforts to establish the facts properly.

From the Pope's Grave on October 4, 1978 ) Pope John Paul I was moved in an outdoor ceremony on Oct. 4, 1978, after the short potential since the early 1600s. (Vatican Media)

What all the approaches agree with is that Pope John Paul First was very different from others. It came from a poor mountain family in Italy. He never wanted to become more than a village priest. He was soon chosen in the context, which lasted only 26 hours, and after choosing he managed to impress the people. He used simple language.

This, I could never imagine,” said John Paul First on the first day as Pope.

Then, a month later, his pontificate ended the shorter period of industriousness since the 1600 ' s, and the Catholic world remained with a sense of inexplicability.

Pope Killed

Why did the Vatican wrongly report who had found it? Why did he rush to embalm his body without autopsy? These questions were raised by British writer David Yallop in a published book in which he concluded that the church had concealed his murder. His theory was that John Paul II was poisoned by cardinals in the Vatican before the pope discovered the corruption of the highest levels.

This book was called “in the name of God” and was published in 1984, but it did not offer ample evidence. Yallop specifically blamed the murder on Archbishop Paul Marcincus.

The Vatican has called these claims “absurde”.

The Pope Who Wants to Die

By the standards of a church that rarely in no way tries to clear up the controversities that run through it, the next step from the Vatican was an absolutely frightening counterattack. In 1987, Archbishop John Foley, a public relations official in the Vatican, contacted another British journalist and writer named John Cornwell, giving him the mission to destroy rumors.

Cornwell was even invited to a private Mass with Pope John Paul II, which was a de facto blessing for his project, which enabled him to open all doors.

For a short time he found many shortcomings in conspiracy theories.

The Vatican had wrongly misidentified the person who had found the body, only because of the shame that a nun woman who worked in papal apartments was the one who entered the pope's bedroom. Furthermore, John Paul the First did not appear to have a secret agenda, or an appetite to look into church finances. And the circumstantial evidence that seemed to link Marcinchus to the murder could easily be destroyed: the archbishop got up early, and it was routine for him to be in the Vatican at 6 in 30 in the morning.

Image by the Pope in his native country, An image of John Paul I on a church in his hometown, Canale d'Agordo, Italian. (Chico Harlan/The Washington Post)

But Cornwall went further away from the Vatican mission. He also served himself with gossip to create a new theory of the death of John Paul the First.

According to the narrator that Cornwell developed, John Paul's brief position was headed for disaster. Curiosity viewed the new pope as inconsistent and childish. And he was being broken by the pressure of his role. According to author, the Pope asked himself every day “why did they choose me?”

It would not become a great pope,” said Cornwell, now 81 years old in an interview.

According to the book, John Paul the First had truly died from his heart. He had complained about chest pain a few hours before his death.

But the book in the most controversial part claimed that the death of John Paul the First was linked to the bad state of mind. One of the Pope's nieces, Lena Petri, was quoted as saying that the stressed pope might have neglected to take his medication.

In this conspiracy theory, Cornwell wrote that John Paul the First was a pope who wanted to die.

But a woman named Stephanie Falasca, now 58, has her own version of her claiming to be more documented than previous versions. She saw documents no one else has seen. He's been reading doctors' confidential reports of the papal clinical history.

It has called previous theories about the pope's death as the next “False news that lasted the most in the 20” century.

Pope's Birthplace 
Canale d'Agordo, Italian, John Paul I's hometown. (Chico Harlan/The Washington Post)

The Falasca calls the death of John Paul the First as an inevitable and unexpected tragedy.

The documents he has looked at have shown that doctors had not detected any health problems during routine checks during John Paul's month as Pope. Many members of his family had suffered sudden deaths, she said.