John Paul I (1912-1978) was elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1978. His reign from his election on August 26 to his sudden death on September 28 was one of the shortest in papal history. He was the first pope to take two names, combining the names of the two previous popes, Saint John XXIII and Saint Paul VI. John Paul’s reign was too brief to make a lasting impact on the church.
John Paul was born on Oct. 17, 1912, in Forno di Canale (now Canale d’Agordo), Italy, near Belluno, of working-class parents. His given and family name was Albino Luciani. He was ordained a priest in 1935. He was named bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958 and in 1969 was appointed patriarch of Venice. Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1973.
In 2022, Pope Francis beatified John Paul, who was credited with miraculously healing a sick girl after his death. Beatification is an important step toward making somebody a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
