Pope John Paul I Marin also said that Luciani would speak the Venetian dialect with those Venetian sisters to make them more comfortable, and to better interact with them. The religious also noted that the pope's humor was evident to all those who spoke with him, and he would often joke with the sisters when seeing his picture in the papers: "But you see how they got me", in reference to the quality of his picture. On 29 September 1978, 33 days into his papacy, John Paul I was found dead "lying in his bed, with a book opened beside him, and the reading
History of the papacy during this period was strongly influenced by Theodoric the Great and his successors Athalaric and Theodahad. This period terminated with Justinian I's (re)conquest of Rome during the Gothic War, inaugurating the Byzantine Papacy (537–752). The role of the Ostrogoths became clear in the first schism, when, on November 22, 498, two men were elected pope. The subsequent triumph of Pope Symmachus (498–514) over Antipope Laurentius is the first recorded example of simony in papal history. Symmachus also instituted the practice of popes naming their own successors, which held until an unpopular choice was made in 530, and discord continued until