Cardinal Lamberto left Rome with a large sum of money and several documents. Fearing that their corruption will be exposed, Keinszig, Lucchesi, and Gilday plot to murder the Pope. Gilday poisons the pontiff's tea, killing him in his sleep. The character of Lamberto and the film's depiction of the events which led to his murder are based upon one of the conspiracy theories surrounding the sudden death of the real-life Pope John Paul I, Albino Luciani. Like the Lamberto character, Luciani was discovered dead in his bed in 1978, 33 days after his election to the papacy. Various theories, such as the
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