Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I (born Alberto Luciani) (October 17, 1912 – September 28, 1978) was the pope before Pope John Paul II. He was the Vicar of Christ for only 30 days before dying of a heart attack during his sleep, though conspiracy theories continue to allege that he was assassinated. One of the foremost people making these claims is an author named David Yallop, who wrote a book called In God's Name claiming that he had been murdered because he was planning to lift the Roman Catholic Church's ban on contraceptives and this offended the church's conservative leadership. He also claimed that the Pope had been about to put an end to a financial scandal involving the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church called the Vatican Bank scandal, in which the Mafia stole money from the Vatican Bank to finance right-wing anti-communist political activity in Italy and South America. This had been supported by many clerical leaders in the Church, including Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, as a bulwark against communism. There was also a group in Italy called the P-2 Masonic Lodge led by an ultra-right wing Roman Catholic politician named Licio Gelli who had served in the Italian military under Mussolini that was supported by the Vatican as a bulwark against communism that was involved in this scandal.