Pope John Paul I, who died in 1978 after just 33 days as pontiff, moved closer to sainthood today with the Vatican still having to reject persistent conspiracy theories that he was the victim of foul play .
Pope Francis beatified his predecessor in a ceremony in Saint Peter’s Square in front of tens of thousands of people. Beatification is the last step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
John Paul was known as “The Smiling Pope” for his meekness and simplicity.
“With a smile, Pope John Paul managed to communicate the goodness of the Lord,” Pope Francis said in his homily, speaking as people huddled under umbrellas in a storm.
“How beautiful is a church with a happy, serene, smiling face, that never closes doors, never hardens hearts, never complains or harbors resentment, never gets angry or impatient, never looks grave or longs for the past”.
Born Albino Luciani in poverty in a mountain village in northern Italy in 1912, he was ordained a priest in 1935, a bishop in 1958 and a cardinal in 1973.
He was elected pope on August 26, 1978 after the death of Pope Paul VI, taking the name John Paul to honor his two immediate predecessors.
Two nuns in the papal household who heard no answer to knocks at his door at 5.20am on September 29 to bring coffee found him dead in bed. Doctors said he died of a heart attack, and aides said he had complained of chest pains the day before but didn’t take them seriously.
Pope John Paul I greets the crowd in Saint Peter’s Square in 1978
Conflicting versions
At first, the Vatican, uncomfortable that two women had entered the Pope’s bedchamber, said he was found dead by a priest.
The Vatican corrected itself, but the misstep sparked conspiracy theories.
In 1984, British author David Yallop’s “In the Name of God – An Inquiry into the Assassination of Pope John Paul I,” which argued that the pope was poisoned by a cabal linked to a secret Masonic lodge, passed 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. .
However, the book’s own review in the New York Times ridiculed Yallop’s investigative techniques and in 1987 another British author, John Cornwell, wrote a book called ‘A Thief in the Night’, meticulously dismantling the theories of the conspiracy
Although widely debunked, the idea of a pope murdered in his room in the 20th century entered the collective consciousness irresistibly and in the film The Godfather Part III, a pope named John Paul I was murdered with poisoned tea
“There is nothing true,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Friday when asked about the conspiracy theories on Italian television Friday.
“It’s a shame that this story, this dark novel, continues. It was a natural death. There is no mystery,” Cardinal Parolin said.
Pope Francis blesses a baby as he leaves at the end of the beatification Mass for the late Pope John Paul I
Italian journalist and author Stefania Falasca, who spent 10 years documenting Joan Pau’s life and saw his medical history, wrote several books about him. He called the conspiracy theories “publicity-driven rubbish”.
Mrs. Falasca, who was the deputy postulator, or promoter, of the cause for sainthood, said he was being beatified not because of what he did as pope, but because of the way he lived his life.
John Paul is credited with the miraculous healing of an 11-year-old Argentine girl who had severe brain inflammation, epilepsy and suffered from septic shock. His parents prayed for him.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that only God works miracles, but that the saints, who are believed to be with God in heaven, intercede on behalf of people who pray to them.
A second miracle will have to be verified for John Pau to be declared a saint.