Date in year · 1978 · The 1970s

October 16, 1978

On October 16, 1978, cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523. The year's #1 song was "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb. Antonio de Nigris, Mirka Federer, Anamaria Marinca would arrive in the same year.

Events

1

Births

0

Deaths

0

Year

1978

1970s

Around 1978

The year in brief

1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1978th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 978th year of the 2nd millennium, the 78th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1970s decade.

Read the full year of 1978 →

What happened

On October 16, 1978

  1. 1978 Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, he becomes the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.

    A conclave was held from 14 to 16 October 1978 to elect a new pope to succeed John Paul I, who had died on 28 September 1978, just 33 days after his election. All 111 eligible cardinal electors attended. On the eighth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the archbishop of Kraków.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1978

The class of 1978

Others born in 1978

Antonio de Nigris 1978– Mexican footballer (died 2009)
Mirka Federer 1978– Slovak-Swiss tennis player
Anamaria Marinca 1978– Romanian-English actress
Etan Thomas 1978– American basketball player
Carles Puyol 1978– Spanish footballer
Roland Lessing 1978– Estonian biathlete

Step through

Nearby

Keep going

More to explore