Marvin Riddle, age 14, of Utica, N.Y. for his question:

HOW LONG DID JOHN PAUL I SERVE AS POPE?

John Paul I was the 263rd Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected Supreme Pontiff in August, 1978, after the death of Pope Paul VI, who died in Rome on September 28, 1978, after only 34 days in office.

Born Albino Luciani in 1912 in northeastern Italy, John Paul I grew up in Venice. He became a priest in 1935 at the age of 23, a bishop at 46 and a cardinal at 61. He remained a pastoral figure rather than a curial bureaucrat. He had charge of religious education in his diocese.

He was 66 when he became Pope.

In homage to his two immediate predecessors, he chose the name John Paul and thus became the first pope to take a double papal name.

He was succeeded by John Paul II, the first non Italian pope since 1523.