Pope John Paul I (born Albino Luciani; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, giving rise to the most recent year of three popes—the first since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement VII in 1523. He was the first pope to have been born in the 20th century, as well as the last pope to die in it.

Before the August 1978 papal conclave that elected him, he expressed his desire not to be elected, telling those close to him that he would decline the papacy if elected, but he eventually felt an obligation to accept his election. He was the first pontiff to have a double papal name, choosing "John Paul" in honour of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. He explained that he was indebted to John XXIII and to Paul VI for naming him a bishop and a cardinal, respectively. Furthermore, he was the only pope to have added the ordinal number "I" to his chosen papal name, with Catholic media reporting he was unaware at the time how such was unusual (the ordinal is traditionally given retroactively as a distinction when another takes the same name).

His two immediate successors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, later recalled the warm qualities of the late pontiff in several addresses. In Italy, he is remembered with the appellatives of () and (). Time magazine and other publications referred to him as "The September Pope". He is also referred to in Italy as Papa Luciani to distinguish him from his successor of the same papal name. In his hometown of Canale d'Agordo, a museum built and named in his honour is dedicated to his life and brief papacy.

John Paul I was declared a Servant of God by his successor, John Paul II, on 23 November 2003. Pope Francis confirmed John Paul's heroic virtue on 8 November 2017 and titled him venerable. Francis presided over John Paul's beatification on 4 September 2022.

Early life and education

thumb|150px|left|Albino Luciani approximately at the age of 10,

Albino Luciani was born on 17 October 1912 in Forno di Canale (now Canale d'Agordo) in Belluno, a province of the Veneto region in Northern Italy. He was the son of Giovanni Luciani (c. 1872–1952), a bricklayer, and Bortola Tancon (c. 1879–1947). Albino was followed by two brothers, Federico (1915–1916) and Edoardo (1917–2008), and a sister, Antonia (1920–2010). He was baptised on the day he was born by the midwife because he was considered to be in danger of death. The solemn rites of baptism were formalised in the parish church two days later.

Luciani was a restless child. In 1922, aged 10, he was awestruck when a Capuchin friar came to his village to preach the Lenten sermons. From that moment, he decided that he wanted to become a priest and went to his father to ask for his permission. His father agreed and said to him: "I hope that when you become a priest you will be on the side of the workers, for Christ Himself would have been on their side".

Luciani entered the minor seminary of Feltre in 1923, where his teachers found him "too lively", and later went on to the major seminary of Belluno. During his stay at Belluno, he attempted to join the Jesuits. However, he was denied by the seminary's rector, Bishop Giosuè Cattarossi.

Ordination and teaching career

Ordained a priest on 7 July 1935, Luciani then served as a curate in his native Forno de Canale before becoming a professor and the vice-rector of the Belluno seminary in 1937.

In 1941, Luciani started to work on a Doctorate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1954, he was named the vicar general for the Belluno diocese.

thumb|150px|Luciani in 1969

Between 1965 and 1969, he faced the schism of Montaner: almost all the residents of Montaner, a frazione of Sarmede, decided to renounce Catholicism and embrace the Orthodox religion, because they had a great disagreement with their bishop, Luciani. The people disagreed with Luciani's decision to appoint John Gava as a new priest in 1966 since the people wanted their own choice, rather than the one Luciani had settled on. The people then wanted a compromise: make their choice the parish's vice-rector if not parish priest. However, Monsignor Luciani said the small village needed only one priest, and he was the sole authority on priestly selection. Continually, he recommended new priests, but each was denied by the people. Finally, he was escorted by the police and took the Eucharist from the Montaner church, leaving the church unblessed and waiting for their next move.

On 15 December 1969, Luciani was appointed the new patriarch of Venice by Pope Paul VI, taking possession of his new archdiocese the following February. That same month he received honorary citizenship of the town of Vittorio Veneto, where he had previously served as bishop. In January 1976, he published Illustrissimi ("To the Illustrious Ones"), a collection of letters penned by him in previous years, whimsically addressed to historical and literary figures such as Dickens, G. K. Chesterton, Maria Theresa of Austria, Teresa of Avila, Goethe, Figaro, Pinocchio, the Pickwick Club, King David, and Jesus.

In 1975, he suggested disciplinary punishment for priests who spoke out in favour of the Communist Party or other leftist groups.

In 1976, Luciani sold a gold cross and pectoral gold chain that Pope John XXIII had given to him (which once belonged to Pope Pius XII before him) to raise money for disabled children. He also urged fellow priests in Venice to sell their valuables to contribute to this cause and as a way for them to live simply and humbly.

Papacy

Election

Pope Paul VI died on 6 August 1978, ending a papacy of fifteen years. Luciani was summoned to Rome for the conclave to elect the new pope. Time reported that the Dean of the college, Carlo Confalonieri, who was excluded from participating because of age, had been the first to suggest Luciani.

Luciani was elected on the fourth ballot of the August 1978 papal conclave. Luciani had previously said to his secretary, Father Diego Lorenzi, and Father Prospero Grech (later a cardinal himself), that he would decline the papacy if elected, and that he intended to vote for Aloísio Lorscheider, whom he met in Brazil. It was the first time that a pope had chosen a double name. He later explained that the double name was taken to gratefully honour his two immediate predecessors: John XXIII, who had named him a bishop, and Paul VI, who had named him Patriarch of Venice and Cardinal.

In the aftermath of the election, the pope confided to his brother Edoardo that his first thought was to call himself "Pius XIII" in honour of Pope Pius XI, but he gave up on the idea, worried that the traditionalist members of the Church might exploit this choice of regnal name.

Observers have suggested that his selection was a compromise to satisfy rumoured divisions among seemingly rival camps within the College of Cardinals:

Church policies

Six-point plan

After he became pope, he had set six plans down which would dictate his pontificate:

  • To renew the church through the policies implemented by Vatican II.
  • To revise canon law.
  • To remind the church of its duty to preach the Gospel.
  • To promote church unity without watering down doctrine.
  • To promote dialogue.
  • To encourage world peace and social justice. Instead of a coronation, he inaugurated his papacy with a "papal inauguration" where he received the papal pallium as the symbol of his position as Bishop of Rome.

Moral theology

British researcher Paul Spackman described Luciani as a man of "doctrinal rigour leavened by pastoral and social open-mindedness," who left behind a "legacy of gentle and compassionate bridge-building." When Humanae vitae was released, re-affirming the teaching of the Church against artificial contraception, Luciani defended that document. Nevertheless, he seemed to contradict that defence in a letter he wrote to his diocese four days after the encyclical's release. In May 1978, Luciani was invited to speak at a Milanese conference to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the encyclical. He refused to speak at the event or even attend it.

Artificial insemination

In an interview before the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978, when asked for his reaction to the birth of the first test-tube baby Louise Brown, Luciani expressed concerns about the possibility that artificial insemination could lead to women being used as "baby factories", but he refused to condemn the parents, noting that they simply wanted to have a baby.

His view was that "from every side the press is sending its congratulations to the English couple and best wishes to their baby girl. In imitation of God, who desires and loves human life, I too offer my best wishes to the baby girl. As for her parents, I do not have any right to condemn them; subjectively, if they have acted with the right intention and in good faith, they may even obtain great merit before God for what they have decided on and asked the doctors to carry out." Luciani added, "Getting down, however, to the act in itself, and good faith aside, the moral problem which is posed is: is extrauterine fertilization in vitro or in a test tube, licit?... I do not find any valid reasons to deviate from this norm, by declaring licit the separation of the transmission of life from the marriage act."

Divorce

In 1969, Luciani was cautious of de facto relationships as a lesser evil to divorce. He said that unions like those should not be the same as marriage. However, he added that "there are, in undeniably pathological family situations, painful cases. To remedy that, some propose a divorce, which, conversely, would aggravate this. But some remedy outside of divorce, you can't really find? Once the legitimate family is protected and made a place of honour, you will not be able to recognise with all appropriate precautions some civil effect to de facto unions."

Homosexuality

In a 1974 interview, while he was the Patriarch of Venice, Luciani upheld the traditional line: "A sexuality that is worthy of man must be a part of love for a person of a different sex with the added commitments of fidelity and indissolubility."

Ordination of women

In a 1975 talk Luciani gave to a group of sisters, he expressed his views on the ordination of women into the priesthood: