Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul I (; ; born Albino Luciani; ; 17 October 191228 September 1978) served as Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 to his death 33 days later. He was the first pope to have been born in the 20th century. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent year of three popes, the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement
History of the papacy the selection in 532 of John II, the first to rename himself upon succession. Theodoric was tolerant towards the Catholic Church and did not interfere in dogmatic matters. He remained as neutral as possible towards the pope, though he exercised a preponderant influence in the affairs of the papacy. Ostrogothic influence ended with the reconquest of Rome by Justinian, who had had pro-Gothic Pope Silverius (536–537) deposed and replaced with his own choice, Pope Vigilius (537–555). The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine