Vatican conspiracy theories Vatican conspiracy theories Vatican conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories that concern the Pope and/or the Roman Catholic Church. A majority of the theories allege that the Church and its representatives are secretly controlling secular society with a Satanic agenda for global domination. Pope John Paul I died in September 1978, only a month after his election to the papacy. The timing of his death and the Vatican's alleged difficulties with ceremonial and legal death procedures have fostered several conspiracy theories. British author David Yallop wrote extensively about unsolved crimes and conspiracy theories, and in his 1984 book "In God's Name"
Pope Gregory XIV Apostolic Constitution "Effraenatam" of Pope Sixtus V (1588) so that the penalty for abortion did not apply until the foetus became animated. The biographers mention that Pope Gregory XIV had a nervous tendency to laughter, which occasionally became irresistible and even manifested itself at his coronation. Gregory XIV, who was in poor health before his election to the papacy, died due to a large gallstone and was succeeded by Innocent IX. Pope Gregory XIV Pope Gregory XIV (; 11 February 1535 – 16 October 1591), born Niccolò Sfondrato or Sfondrati, was Pope from 5 December 1590 to his death in