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 Sergius I attempt. Zacharias nearly lost his own life in an attempt to arrest Sergius. Rather than seizing upon the anti-Byzantine sentiment, Sergius did his best to quell the uprising. Sergius died on 8 September 701. He was succeeded by John VI. Pope Sergius I Pope Sergius I (8 September 701) was Pope from December 15, 687, to his death in 701. He was elected at a time when two rivals, the Archdeacon Paschal and the Archpriest Theodore, were locked in dispute about which of them should become pope. His papacy was dominated by his response to the Quinisext Council, whose canons