The longest conclave in history: 1,006 days, cardinals dying, and only bread and water
The most surreal papal election process took place between 1268 and 1271. The man chosen wasn’t even a cardinal and wasn’t present at the conclave.
On May 7, the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor to the Throne of St. Peter will begin. It will end as soon as one of the cardinals receives two-thirds of the votes. It is expected to last no longer than two or three days. Pope Francis was elected in just over a day after five ballots. The election of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, was even quicker. He needed only four ballots, in one day.
The longest conclave in the 20th century
If we compare this conclave with those held a century ago, the number of cardinal electors will more than double, from about 60 to 133. In addition, there will usually be four votes in one day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. A century ago, it was more usual to vote only twice a day.
The longest conclave in the last 150 years was the one that elected Pope Pius XI in 1922. It took 14 ballots and five days. Fifty-three cardinals entered divided into two irreconcilable factions. When they saw that the election was deadlocked, they sought a compromise solution with the Archbishop of Milan, Achille Ratti.
The endless conclave
But to get to the most surreal papal election in history we have to go back to the 13th century. After the death of Clement IV, the cardinals met on November 29, 1268 and did not reach an agreement until September 1, 1271. They needed 1,006 days to elect Gregory X and along the way three of the twenty cardinals died.
The first peculiarity was that the conclave was held in Viterbo, 80 kilometers north of Rome. The papal see had moved there to escape the battlefield that Rome had become because of the war between the Guelph and Ghibelline families.
Of the 20 cardinals summoned, Rudolph of Albano died before the voting began. Therefore, there were only 19 electors who were divided into two factions more political than religious. About seven ‘Carolinians’, almost all French, who were supporters of Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily and Naples, and about ten ‘Imperials’, almost all Italian, who were supporters of the Holy Roman Empire.
Cum clave, all locked up
From November 29, 1268, the 19 cardinals met once a day to vote in the cathedral of Viterbo without either faction giving in. The external pressure was suffocating and achieving a two-thirds majority was mission impossible. The logjam only had a chance of being resolved when the general of the Order of the Sevites went to Viterbo two months after the beginning of the process to demand that it be resolved immediately... and fled in a hurry when everyone proposed to wash their hands of the whole matter... and elect him as the new Pope.
A year after deliberations began, the cardinals were meeting to vote less and less regularly and the process was at a standstill. The magistrate and the prefect of Viterbo feared the situation would end in disaster. Supporting the cardinals and their entourage was ruining the city. Taxes had to be raised and the population was threatening an uprising. Fed up with the situation, they ordered the 19 cardinals to be locked up in the Papal Palace in Viterbo. There the word ‘conclave’ (cum clave, with key, or simply locked) was born. It was also decided to simplify the menu of their eminences, so that the cost would not be so onerous for the city’s coffers.
Without a roof and living on bread and water
But the cardinals still refused to give in and the blockade continued, so in the summer of 1270 the city decided to go a step further. The roof was removed from the bedrooms and the deliberation room of the palace “so that the Holy Spirit may enlighten you” and the diet of the electors was reduced to bread and water. Around that time, the Cardinal of Ostia renounced his right to vote and left Viterbo in poor health. There were 18 electors left. The poor conditions affected the health of more cardinals. Stefan Vancza, the first Hungarian cardinal in history, and Giordano dei Conti, papal vice-chancellor, fell ill and died. There were 16 left.
After a year in these conditions, and fearing that none would get out alive, the 16 decided to elect six, three from each faction, to choose a candidate with the blessing of the remaining ten. On September 1, 1271, they proposed a name as surprising as the whole process had been: Theobald Bisconti, who was neither a cardinal nor in the conclave. In fact, he was in the Holy Land, in Acre, fighting in the Ninth Crusade. On March 27, 1272 he was crowned Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica as Gregory X.
See also:
Who is Pietro Parolin, the Italian front-runner to become the next Pope?
Who is Luis Antonio Tagle, the ‘Asian Francis’ seen as a contender for Pope
Who is Matteo Zuppi, the Italian cardinal closest to Francis
Who is Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Italian cardinal and patriarch of Jerusalem
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