October 1978 papal conclave October 1978 papal conclave The papal conclave of October 1978 was triggered by the death of Pope John Paul I on 28 September just 33 days after his election on 26 August. The conclave to elect John Paul I's successor began on 14 October and ended two days later on 16 October, after eight ballots. The cardinal electors elected Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Kraków, as the new pope. Resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes, he accepted his election and took the pontifical name of "John Paul II". Ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul
Ostrogothic Papacy money that could be spent during a papal election (an early example of campaign finance reform). In fact, Athalaric himself was able to engineer the election of Pope Silverius, the son of Pope Hormisdas, upon John II's death. Theodahad threw his support behind Pope Agapetus I and was thus "well placed to coerce the new pope Agapetus, for he had been elected with his support." Theodahad also played a decisive role in the selection of Pope Silverius (536-537), the legitimate son of Hormisdas. After Justinian I retook Rome in the Gothic War (535–554), "to interfere in the papacy had been