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Pope John Paul I was nicknamed ‘The Smiling Pope’ because of his cheerful demeanour. He was planning sweeping reforms of the Catholic Church but never lived to carry them out, as he died just 33 days after being elected to the Papacy, in September 1978.
The official verdict was that he died of a heart attack. But there was no autopsy and there were conflicting reports of where he died and who discovered his body.
Some people think Pope John Paul I was murdered to prevent him uncovering a massive Vatican Bank scandal. Or that he was poisoned by a secret cabal of right-wing cardinals who thought his reforms were too liberal.
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