a footnote to history
From today's Times, regarding papal selection procedures:
"In 1271, after the papal throne had been vacant for three years, anxious Catholics locked the indecisive cardinals up in a crumbling building and put them on a strict diet of bread and water. For an extra dose of motivation, the roof was removed from above their heads, and after three months of rain and harsh sunshine, the cardinals elected Pope Gregory X."
It still took three more months. One is left to hope that the poor cardinals had access to indoor plumbing.
We should adopt this method as a panacea for resolving legislative deadlocks. It's certainly more fun than filibuster reform...
:)
"In 1271, after the papal throne had been vacant for three years, anxious Catholics locked the indecisive cardinals up in a crumbling building and put them on a strict diet of bread and water. For an extra dose of motivation, the roof was removed from above their heads, and after three months of rain and harsh sunshine, the cardinals elected Pope Gregory X."
It still took three more months. One is left to hope that the poor cardinals had access to indoor plumbing.
We should adopt this method as a panacea for resolving legislative deadlocks. It's certainly more fun than filibuster reform...
:)
posted by Anonymous at 5:14 PM
1 Comments:
You know what is crazy? The papal selection is probably the oldest, still existing democratic process in the world, at least, the oldest of its size. Funny to think of the Catholic church as a pillar of democratic ideals.
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