John Paul I

Biography

Albino Luciani was born in 1912 at Forno di Canale in the Veneto, the son of a bricklayer. He studied at the seminaries of Feltre and Belluno, was ordained in 1935, and taught theology at the Belluno seminary, where he became vice-rector. He earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1947.

After serving as vicar general of Belluno, he was named Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1958 and attended every session of the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI made him Patriarch of Venice in 1969 and a cardinal in 1973. In Venice he was known for his simple style and for practical work such as family counselling clinics.

He was elected pope on the fourth ballot of the August 1978 conclave and took the first double papal name, John Paul, to honour his two predecessors. He set aside the papal coronation for a simpler inauguration. He died, apparently of a heart attack, on 28 September 1978, after only 33 days, one of the shortest reigns in papal history. He was beatified in 2022.