(no subject)

[lazy_natalia]

In the city of Viterbo in 1271, the cardinals elected Pope Gregory X. At the time, Gregory (then still Teobaldo Visconti) was off on crusade and wasn't even a priest. He was elected because the cardinals had spent the last three years arguing about who should be pope. Finally, the citizens stopped feeding the cardinals anything but bread and water and even removed the roof from the papal palace. Gregory thought these extreme measures might help in the future, so institutionalized the procedure of denying food to the electors after 5 days without electing a pope. This law, however, was overturned within a year of Gregory's death. The cardinals, it seems, were determined to get their way or stymie the whole process.