Pope John Paul II Cardinals would be the ones who would give him most support at his eventual election to the papacy In August 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI, Cardinal Wojtyła voted in the papal conclave, which elected Pope John Paul I. John Paul I died after only 33 days as pope, triggering another conclave. The second conclave of 1978 started on 14 October, ten days after the funeral. It was split between two strong candidates for the papacy: Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, the conservative Archbishop of Genoa, and the liberal Archbishop of Florence, Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, a close friend of John
Pope Leo XI to France, and as the cardinal Prefect for the Congregation of the Bishops and Religious. He was elected to the papacy in the March 1605 papal conclave and served as pope for 27 days. Alessandro Ottoviano de' Medici was born in Florence as the son of Francesca Salviati and Ottaviano. He was the great-nephew of Pope Leo X. Alessandro's father died when he was a child and he was home schooled by a Dominican priest, Vincenzo Ercolano. Medici felt the call to the priesthood but his mother opposed his vocation since he was the only male in the family. To