persecution. >> he was trying to carve out space for church freedom. >> he just believed that ultimately truth and justice are going to prevail. >> wojtyla had taken on the communists. >> in august, 1978, a new pope, john paul i is elected. >> an extraordinary turn of eepts, he has a massive heart attack, dies in his sleep. >> john paul i dies after 30 days. and you have to have another election immediately. >> the cardinals saw the death of john paul i as a message from god, that maybe they needed to think in a little bit more unconventional way. >> why elect a non-italian slavic pope and make the radical change with the past? >> and that election brings for