Pope John Paul 1

I was doing a little research about something in Italy when I came across this discovery and I have decided to share it with you.
I am sure most of you know who a Pope is, what you might not know like I also didn't know was the fact that the names they call themselves when they become Pope is not their real name, it is a Papal name they take up when they are elected as the leader of the Christian world.  For example the current Pope whom we all know as Pope Francis chose that name as his papal name in honour of the Saint Francis of Assisi, his real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

It was when I discovered this that I decided to do a little research of my own, to know what the real name of my favourite Pope was. Karol wojtyla better known as Pope John Paul II was my favourite Pope, after I found out that the name John Paul II was his papal name, I also decided to find out who started the John Paul name since Karol was John Paul II, someone should have been John Paul I and it was this that also led me to another thrilling discovery.

Cardinal Albino luciani was the first person to use the papal name John Paul, not only was he the first John Paul, he was also the first to have a double name. He chose the name John Paul in honour of the two Pope before him, Pope John XXIII and Paul IV. He was also the first Pope to add the regnal number “I” which designated him “the first”. Pope John Paul I was also the shortest serve Pope in the papacy history, he died after 33 days in office and was the only Pope that his cause of death was made public, he was said to have died of heart attack.

Although his death also brought about many conspiracy theories with most of them linking it to the high level of corruption that was going on at the Vatican Bank as at then. The strongest theory was that of David Yallop who claimed in his book that the Pope was in “potential danger because of corruption in the Istituto per le Opere Religiose (IOR, Institute of Religious Works, commonly known as the Vatican Bank), which owned many shares in Banco Ambrosiano”. His claim were centered on the fact that when the body of the Pope was found, there was a piece of paper gripped to his hand which contain names of high-ranking members of the curia who were Freemasons and others who had a role in numerous corruption scandals and the laundering of mafia drug money, he also claimed that the paper was destroyed. This claim wasn’t acknowledge by the Vatican even though David asked them to investigate his claim.

Pope John Paul I became a cardinal 1973 and then became a Pope 1978, though some said he never wanted to be the Pope, that he told those close to him that he would reject the papacy if elected but when he was finally elected he felt obligated to say “yes”.
   

I have decided to end this article with the full list of all the papal names every pope has ever used and they are as follows in their particular order;

1.      St. Peter (32-67)

2.      St. Linus (67-76)

3.      St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)

4.      St. Clement I (88-97)

5.      St. Evaristus (97-105)

6.      St. Alexander I (105-115)

7.      St. Sixtus I (115-125)

8.      St. Telesphorus (125-136)

9.      St. Hyginus (136-140)

10.  St. Pius I (140-155)

11.  St. Anicetus (155-166)

12.  St. Soter (166-175)

13.  St. Eleutherius (175-189)

14.  St. Victor I (189-199)

15.  St. Zephyrinus (199-217)

16.  St. Callistus I (217-22)

17.  St. Urban I (222-30)

18.  St. Pontain (230-35)

19.  St. Anterus (235-36)

20.  St. Fabian (236-50)

21.  St. Cornelius (251-53)

22.  St. Lucius I (253-54)

23.  St. Stephen I (254-257)

24.  St. Sixtus II (257-258)

25.  St. Dionysius (260-268)

26.  St. Felix I (269-274)

27.  St. Eutychian (275-283)

28.  St. Caius (283-296)

29.  St. Marcellinus (296-304)

30.  St. Marcellus I (308-309)

31.  St. Eusebius (309 or 310)

32.  St. Miltiades (311-14)

33.  St. Sylvester I (314-35)

34.  St. Marcus (336)

35.  St. Julius I (337-52)

36.  Liberius (352-66)

37.  St. Damasus I (366-84)

38.  St. Siricius (384-99)

39.  St. Anastasius I (399-401)