We've all been loving the conclave drama, but one of my favourite bits of Catholic Lore is how they ended up locking a load of Cardinals in a room for days until they've picked a Pope. People say it's to prevent external lobbying and to help them hear the holy spirit but that's not the whole story.

In 1268 Pope Clement IV died. Back then the Cardinals met up in whatever city the Pope died in, and voted once a day before just going about their business. So the Cardinals met in Viterbo and got to voting. But they simply could not pick a Pope.

When I say they couldn't pick a Pope, I mean it took MONTHS. The Cardinals stopped meeting daily, only meeting on occasion. Even they were sick of the deadlock. After a year of conclave passed, the people of the town were starting to get a bit pissed off with all of this.

Finally, after over a year of deadlock the Prefect of the town locked the Cardinals in the Popes palace, telling them to get on with it, and pick a Pope. Then, when being simply locked up didn't work, the townsfolk took off the roof, and refused to send the Cardinals anything but bread and water.

Amazingly, locking the Cardinals up, taking the roof off the building, and only letting them eat bread and water didn't end the saga A full year passed Finally some European monarchs got involved, and under pressure the Cardinals voted to allow a group of just 6 Cardinals to elect a Pope instead

In September 1971, two years and nine months after the former Pope had died, and over a year after they'd been locked up by annoyed townsfolk, the Cardinals selected a new Pope. The problem was, the guy they chose was not even a priest and was, at that moment, on a crusade, in Acre.