

Yes, there is precedent. Some random Catholic who wasn’t even a priest got selected after a conclave had been stuck in political deadlock for literal years. He couldn’t actually take the job till he was ordained, which he did. He immediately instituted a bunch of rules including locking them away together with no luxuries until a decision was made to make sure that problem didn’t happen again. (It happened again multiple times anyway.)
Not surprisingly, people who couldn’t admit when they were wrong didn’t come into this thread and admit that they have been wrong.