# Was Pope John Paul I assassinated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261 "2008-07-21T16:08:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/1 "2008-07-21T16:08:09Z")
Does anyone still believe the consipiracy theories about Pope John Paul I being assassinated? [It is covered briefly in the Wikipedia article.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I) I don’t think he was. The assasssination theories came about because of his very brief papacy. Any time an Italian dies under suspicious circumstances, everyone likes to think the Mafia was involved. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/2 "2008-07-21T19:43:05Z")
First Cassius and Brutus – then the Borgias – then the Mafia. It’s always been dangerous to be Italian. Giovanna ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/3 "2008-07-21T21:42:58Z")
I don’t think he was. He was of shaky health and was simply anxious and overwhelmed by a very important, high-stress job that he even he admitted he wasn’t up to. He was to a degree a prisoner of the Vatican, and didn’t get the best possible medical care under the circumstances. See _Godfather III_ for a fictional account of his brief Papacy, suggesting that he was indeed murdered (in part to cover up financial skullduggery at a Vatican-controlled bank). ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/4 "2008-07-21T22:08:16Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] (in part to cover up financial skullduggery at a Vatican-controlled bank). [/QUOTE] > **[Banco Ambrosiano](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banco_Ambrosiano)** > > Banco Ambrosiano (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Italian pronunciation: \[ˈban.ko am.broˈzja.no\]; lit. 'Milanese Bank') 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 Banco ... The bank scandal and the shady activities of Propaganda Due were quite real, but I’d probably knock off a half dozen accountants or auditors (low profile, more likely to stumble across the skulduggery) than target a super-visible guy who would be unlikely to have much first-hand knowledge of complex financial fraud. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/5 "2008-07-21T22:14:40Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I don’t think he was. He was of shaky health and was simply anxious and overwhelmed by a very important, high-stress job that he even he admitted he wasn’t up to. He was to a degree a prisoner of the Vatican, and didn’t get the best possible medical care under the circumstances. [/QUOTE] I read that he simply forgot to pack his medication amid the flurry of activity surrounding his ascension. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/6 "2008-07-21T23:05:21Z")
I’ve heard it theorized that they deliberately chose a “placeholder” Pope whom they knew wouldn’t last long to give them more time to find a “real” Pope. IANACatholic, and maybe one will correct me, but I read a lot about Popes and the process during Benedict’s selection and I remembering reading this. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/7 "2008-07-21T23:21:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] I’ve heard it theorized that they deliberately chose a “placeholder” Pope whom they knew wouldn’t last long to give them more time to find a “real” Pope. [/QUOTE] I’d be surprised…or at least, if they did consider him a placeholder, they didn’t expect he’d die so soon. His death and the need to call for a new conclave so soon after the last one ruined the Vatican budget, so much so, when John Paul II saw the 1979 figures, he called all the cardinals to Rome for an emergency meeting…the first time it had happened in about 400 years. Between that and the Banco Ambrosio collapse, it didn’t run a surplus again until the late 80s-early 90s (and is in financial trouble this year because of the weak dollar). ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/8 "2008-07-22T08:58:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] I’ve heard it theorized that they deliberately chose a “placeholder” Pope whom they knew wouldn’t last long to give them more time to find a “real” Pope. [/QUOTE] Except that they had tried that in the last conclave-but-one (1958), only to discover that even a supposed stop-gap appointment could make quite a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/9 "2008-07-22T14:05:14Z")
There’ve been several stories about prominent cardinals who feigned ill health or frailty in hopes of being elected pope by peers who just saw them as placeholders, but then showed remarkable recoveries after ascending the papal throne. John Paul I, alas, wasn’t one of these. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-pope-john-paul-i-assassinated/457261/10 "2008-07-22T14:11:59Z")
There is at least one book on the topic of JP I’s purported assassination, [In God’s Name: an Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I](http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Name-Investigation-Into-Murder/dp/0786719842/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216735749&sr=1-16)