John Paul I

Albino Luciani chose a double name no pope had ever used before, honoring both his immediate predecessors. He refused the traditional papal coronation, opting for a simple inauguration Mass instead. He smiled constantly, spoke plainly, and seemed genuinely uncomfortable with the grandeur of the office. He told audiences he preferred to be called "I" instead of the royal "we." Then, thirty-three days after his election, he was found dead in his bed of an apparent heart attack. The Vatican's handling of the death was clumsy, with contradictory statements about who found the body and what he had been reading, which fueled conspiracy theories that persist to this day. No autopsy was performed. Most historians accept the straightforward explanation: he had a history of health problems and the stress of the papacy killed him. But his brief pontificate left a mark. He showed that a pope could be approachable and ordinary.