Pope Michael I, baptismal name David Allen Bawden (born September 22, 1959), was elected Pope by a group of Conclavist or post-Sedevacantist Catholics to fill the vacancy they consider to have been caused by the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. Calling him an "anti-pope" would undoubtedly be inaccurate as to all appearances the following he has, compared to the validly elected Pope John Paul II, is miniscule, making him comparable to other similar pretenders to the Papal name, like Antipope Pius XIII and Antipope Gregory XVII.

Michael's supporters argue that the elections of Pius's successors are invalid (by the same reasoning as Fr. Pulvermacher's); however, according to Catholic theology, the Church is to have Popes in perpetuity (First Vatican Council, 1870), and it has always the right to supply itself with the Pope. Election of the pope by a College of Cardinals is not by Divine Institution, but was legislated by the Church, so that in the case of extreme necessity, it can be dispensed with.

Acting on the basis of this, Pope Michael was elected by six people (including himself, Mr. Kennett Bawden and Mrs. Clara Bawden, a Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hunt, and a Mrs. Teresa Stanfill_Benns, who had been the main motivator of the Election) on July 16, 1990 in Belvue, Kansas, USA. Kennett Bawden and Clara Bawden are his parents.

Mrs. Benns and Mr. David Bawden, who together summoned the assembly to elect the Pope in 1990, invited all orthodox Catholics to join, but none others than those who did finally participate responded, or participated, and therefore, the assembly proceeded and elected Bawden, who took the name Michael. In doing so, his chief inspiration was the incident that moved Pope Leo XIII to institute the Invocation of St. Michael Archangel, and to add it to every Mass.

External links

• The Vatican_In_Exile (http://www.vaticaninexile.com/)
• Michaelinum _ The Catholic Resistance to the Modernist Apostasy (http://www.geocities.com/prakashjm45/michaeline.html)
• "Not In Communion With Rome?" (http://www.geocities.com/prakashjm45/roman.html)