Pope Paul VI On 6 August 1978 at 21:41 Paul VI died in Castel Gandolfo. According to the terms of his will, he was buried in the "true earth" and therefore, he does not have an ornate sarcophagus but in practice beneath the floor of Saint Peter's Basilica, though in an area of the basilica's crypt near the tombs of other popes. His position mirrors the statements attributed to Pius XI: "a Pope may suffer but he must be able to function" and by Pius XII. Pope Paul, reflecting on Hamlet, wrote the following in a private note in 1978: His confessor, the
Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul I (; ; born Albino Luciani; ; 17 October 191228 September 1978) served as Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 to his death 33 days later. He was the first pope to have been born in the 20th century. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent year of three popes, the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement