Still Running Off at the Keyboard

LISBON: Pope John Paul I, who died from an apparent heart attack just 33 days after becoming pontiff in 1978, was assassinated because of his plans to radically reform the Catholic church, according to a novel to be published next year.

Portuguese author and scriptwriter Luis Miguel Rocha said he based The Last Pope on documents he obtained through an undisclosed Vatican source, which he will make public when the novel is published in April.

The novel puts the theory that John Paul I had become a threat because he was aware of money-laundering involving the Vatican Bank and also because of his plans to liberalise aspects of centuries-old church doctrine.

"He wanted to be the last wealthy pope. John Paul I wanted to redistribute the riches of the church, open the church to women and authorise the use of contraceptives," said Rocha, 29, in a weekend interview.

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