It was the mounting rage of citizens in Viterbo, a small town north of Rome, that put an end to the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church, forging for the first time the word “conclave.”
The Viterbo conclave in the 13th century was a pivotal event in papal elections, lasting almost three years – exactly 1,006 days – due to deep divisions among the cardinals over the name of the new pope.
