What an odd year 1978 was, with two Conclaves in rapid succession. Pope John Paul I at 65 could have reasonably looked forward to a reign of 20 years. Instead, his sudden death altered history and gave endless fodder to conspiracy theorists. One of the shortest reigns in papal history, we really do not know what sort of pope he would have turned out to be. Reading tea leaves from what he did prior to being Pope is probably futile. His successor made sure that he would be remembered by adopting the name of Pope John Paul II. His book Illustrissimi, letters to forty fictional and historical figures, is sweet and insightful, and well worth reading.
PopeWatch: The Unknown Pope
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I would note that his untimely death was memorialized in a somewhat negative manner in the rather insipid film “Godfather” Part III, which did little to help understand the man.