Pope John Paul I

About Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani, served as the head of the Catholic Church for just 33 days in 1978, a remarkably brief pontificate that followed his prior service as Patriarch of Venice. Despite his short tenure, his surprise election and even more surprising death thrust him into a pivotal moment of 20th-century religious history, warranting his high ranking of #117 in overall historical importance according to MIT's Pantheon project.

Despite this high historical placement, his modern internet attention remains relatively muted compared to his actual impact. In 2025, Pope John Paul I garnered 2.0M Wikipedia views, resulting in an Attention Gap ratio of +3x, indicating he receives three times the online attention one might expect based on his HPI rank. This places his visibility significantly below contemporaries like Joe Biden (#329 importance) who drew 10.6M views, and even below other religious figures like Pope Leo XIV (#127 importance), who commanded a massive 17.6M views.

Interestingly, his online engagement shows high volatility: while his annualized 2025 views were up a remarkable +330.7% year-over-year, his momentum appears to be sharply declining, with a -59% drop between Q1 and Q3 performance, suggesting a fading contemporary echo of his brief historical moment.