“Each of them was intimately aware of the procedure for electing a pope—not only of the antiquated mechanisms, of course, but of the politicking, pressuring, deal-making, bluffing, and outright blackmail that had often accompanied the process over the centuries.”

Source: The Rise of Endymion (1997), Chapter 1 (p. 10)

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Dan Simmons 104
American novelist 1948

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