Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes
Day 25: David I
The rise of David I to the papal throne was an accident. When the conclave that "elected" him was in its 25th day of stalemate, Cardinal Rocco was finally able to convince the electors to support Cardinal Albini, the favored candidate of the organized crime figures that were the power behind Rocco.
The problem is that the name of the elected candidate is listed as Albinizi, who turned out not to be a cardinal but a parish priest named David Albinizi. Upon taking office, David became friends with the head of his security detail and the nun who saw after his household, but he made little headway with the Curia and the cardinals who wanted a Mafia-friendly pope.
David survived an assassination attempt, and after mulling abdication decided to stay in office. He doubled down on addressing the corruption inside the Vatican Bank, removing Cardinal Rocco from office due to his involvement. Rocco then tried to blackmail the pope with news of a son, whom the pope fathered before becoming a priest. But it turned out the son, now a rock star, was dating the daughter of Corelli, one of the important Mafia figures trying to take over the Vatican. Corelli planted a bomb to kill the son, but accidentally killed his daughter as well.
David stayed in office long enough to dissolve the Vatican Bank, but was forced to abdicate when the news that he had an affair that resulted in a son went public. This led to the quick election of Cardinal Albini, who it turned out was actually Corelli in disguise. David went to the Sistine Chapel to try to prevent Albini's coronation, but was too late. Now Vittorio I, Albini/Corelli celebrated by firing gunshots into the ceiling - and was killed by falling plaster.
Thoroughly shaken by the turn of events, the College of Cardinals made the nun who ran David's household the new pope.