Was it true as depicted in GF3? Why did the Mob want to whack the Pope?

There were suspicions that he was whacked... But, he died of heart failure in his sleep.

They poisoned him with the help of some conspirators.

The murder of Pope John Paul I

This is an interesting link, Remember Vito Andolini.

Not the Mafia, the Mafia is in hiding pretty much. Maby a small time mob or crime syndicate that is reckless. But definetly not the Mafia.

Are you serious? Only the Mafia or government conspiracy can pull this off.

I agree with RVA.

For there to be a plot against the Pope, there would have had to have been some serious motivation, the type that could only originate from the highest levels within the Mafia, the government, or the church itself.

What motive would a "small time mob or crime syndicate" have?

Why do you think he was whacked by Mafia in the movie? As far as I remember GF3, the plot to kill pope had nothing to do with the mob. As it was depicted there, the pope begun to “clean the house”, and everything concerning the dirty deals and disappeared money in the Vatican Bank had to be investigated. Gilday, Keinszig & co. felt that they are in danger, and the poisoning of pope was the effect of the intrigues in the church itself, in its highest levels, as Plawrence justly pointed out. I also agree that nobody else in the movie had any reason to do it, but I don’t know if activities of the real pope affected the mob in any way, though. That could be, but still they would have difficulty getting to the pope to poison him, if they didn’t have enough high-positioned collaterals in Vatican itself.

Just like JFK, and other conspiracy-theories, the possible reality of the plot of GFIII to save the Pope from assassination lies strictly in the minds of the theorists. The Catholic Church has ALWAYS had some kind of serious problem going on--the Church is made up of human beings who are imperfect. People confuse the inerrancy of the Pope's excathedra proclamations on FAITH AND MORALS ONLY with the fact that the Church (meaning the people who make up the Church even in her highest levels) make mistakes! Sometimes very serious mistakes! But again, this confusion comes from not understanding Catholic doctrine. Even good Catholics don't understand Church doctrine unless they study it--and sometimes people can study it for years and still not have a perfect understanding of it. As for the Pope being unable to err in judgement, this ONLY pertains to when the Pope is making an EXCATHEDRA proclamation (from the Chair--meaning the "From the Chair of St. Peter") on the matter of FAITH or MORALS and ONLY THOSE TWO. I believe the Pope actually sits on the Chair of St. Peter in these cases.

So, in light of this, what possible reason would anyone have, with the exception of the communist party, to murdering the pope? There is a very documented theory that the communist party (they are not dead, you know!) had a definite part in recruting Serhan Serhan (was that the correct name?) and how he was paid for his part in the attempt on the Pope's life. Keep in mind that the Pope's assassination attempt landed on May 13th--the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal in 1917--and what did she tell the three children? THAT RUSSIA WOULD CONTINUE TO SPREAD HER ERRORS UNLESS PEOPLE STOPPED OFFENDING GOD. HELLO??? The Holy Father recognized the significance of this date and from that day forward he dedicated himself to the personal and public devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and the Rosary. Actually, fascinating stuff...check out a documentary done back in the 80's on Fatima--it will make your hair on your arms stand up. It is narrated by Ricardo Montalban (sp?) ("dee plane, dee plane!"). Check it out...

~~ Lollie

FYI - Mehmet Ali Agca was man that attempted to assassinate the Pope. Sirhan Sirhan was the man that succeeded in assassinating RFK.