Not Always Under Lock and Key

The Purpose of this publication is to trace the intriguing history of papal elections. As is clearly documented here the history of the election of Popes has not always been a happy event, but it has always been an exciting one for a variety of reasons. It is full of fascination, conjecture, extraordinary expectations, fear, violence, secular politics, power struggles, personal and family ambitions, and so forth. There is one thing constant in the history of papal elections: whether or not the electors of Popes cooperate with Divine Providence or not, the Holy Spirit ensures that the Church established by Jesus Christ on the rock of Peter continues to survive until the Lord's return at the en of time. The history of papal elections, like the history of the Church itself, is not based on secular footing for unlike the history of nations, its history is guarded by the Lord's promise to Peter: "I will be with you until the end of time." The narrative of the history of how men have come to ascend the Office of Peter down through the ages to the present day is set forth in fascinating detail in the present volume.