Sede vacante coat of arms, used by the Holy See from a Pope's death to the election of his successor

Sedevacantism is a theological position embraced by a minority of Traditionalist Catholics which holds that the Papal See has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 (or, in some cases, the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963). Sedevacantists believe that Paul VI (1963–1978), John Paul I (1978), John Paul II (1978–2005) and Benedict XVI (2005-) have been neither true Catholics nor true popes, but rather notorious heretics, by dint of having allegedly espoused Modernism. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Sede vacante is the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church in the Canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. ... A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church just before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). ... While all episcopal sees can be referred to as holy, the expression the Holy See (without further specification) is normally used in international relations (as well as in the canon law of the Catholic Church)[1] to refer to the central government of the Catholic Church, headed by the Bishop... Pius XIIs signature Pope Pius XII (Latin: ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th pope, the human head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death. ... See also: 15th-century Antipope John XXIII. Pope John XXIII (Latin: ; Italian: ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ... This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... Pope John Paul I (Latin: , Italian: Giovanni Paolo I), born Albino Luciani, (October 17, 1912—September 28, 1978) reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and as Sovereign of Vatican City from August 26, 1978 until his death. ... Pope John Paul II (Latin: , Italian: , Polish: ) born   IPA: ; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) reigned as the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City from 16 October 1978, until his death, almost 27 years later, making his the second-longest... Papal Arms of Pope Benedict XVI. The papal tiara was replaced with a bishops mitre, and pallium of the Pope was added beneath the coat of arms. ... For other uses, see Pope (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Heresy (disambiguation). ... Illustration depicting Modernism as the descent from Christianity to atheism. ...

The term "sedevacantism" is derived from the Latin phrase sede vacante, which literally means "while the seat is vacant", the seat in question being that of a bishop. A specific use of the phrase is in the context of the vacancy of the Holy See between the death or resignation of a Pope and the election of his successor. Sede vacante is the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church in the Canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. ... The Sistine Chapel is the location of the conclave. ...

Some small groups of Traditionalist Catholics give allegiance to alternative Popes of their own. Since they hold that the Holy See is headed by their nominee and therefore is not in fact vacant, they are not sedevacantists in the strict sense. However, the term "sedevacantist" is often applied to them because they reject the generally accepted papal succession. Another term for them is "conclavists". The Sistine Chapel is the location of the conclave. ...

Early history

One of the earliest proponents of sedevacantism was the American Francis Schuckardt. Though he was still working within the "official" Church in 1967, he publicly took the position in 1968 that the Holy See was vacant and that the Church that had emerged from the Second Vatican Council was no longer Catholic.^[1] An associate of his, Daniel Q. Brown, arrived at the same conclusion. In 1969, Brown illicitly received episcopal orders from an Old Catholic bishop, and in 1971 he in turn consecrated Schuckardt. Schuckardt founded a congregation called the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church. Bishop Francis Schuckardt Francis Konrad Schuckardt (July 10, 1937—November 5, 2006) was an American Traditionalist Catholic independent bishop and the first known bishop in the United States to take the position of sedevacantism, a theory which holds that Pope Paul VI and his successors are not valid popes. ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Daniel Quilter Brown is an American Old Catholic bishop. ... The Old Catholic Church is not so much a religious denomination, as a community, part of whose member churches split from the Roman Catholic church in 1870. ...

In 1970, a Japanese layman, Joseph of Jesus and Mary Yukio Nemoto (1925-1988), created a sedevacantist group called Seibo No Mikuni. ^[2] As late as 2000, they were corresponding with all Italian clergy, and were supported by at least one Guatemalan priest.^{[citation needed]}

Another founding figure of sedevacantism was Fr. Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga, a Jesuit theologian from Mexico. He put forward sedevacantist ideas in his books The New Montinian Church (August 1971) and Sede Vacante (1973). Sáenz's writings gave rise to the sedevacantist movement in Mexico, led by Sáenz, Fr. Moises Carmona and Fr. Adolfo Zamora, and also inspired Fr. Francis E. Fenton in the United States. Fr. ... Seal of the Society of Jesus. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Bishop Moises Carmona Rivera (October 31, 1912 - November 1, 1991) was born in Quechultenango, Guerrero, Mexico and was a Roman Catholic parish priest in Acapulco notable for his refusal to accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. ...

Other priests may have arrived at the sedevacantist position independently in the years following the Second Vatican Council. These may have included:

• The Dominican theologian Fr. Michel Louis Guérard des Lauriers, who developed a thesis similar to sedevacantism called sedeprivationism in the 1970s.
• Several students at the SSPX seminary at Econe in the early or mid-1970s - Richard Williamson, Daniel Dolan, Anthony Cekada and Donald Sanborn - who are reported to have been sedevacantists in that period.[1] Three of these four individuals are now bishops within the traditionalist movement.
• The English parish priest Fr. Oswald Baker, who was a sedevacantist at least by 1982,^[3] and reportedly some time before that.
• The American missionary Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, who left the "official" Church in 1976 and was eventually (in October 1998) elected as pope of the conclavist true Catholic Church with the name of Pius XIII.

Michel Louis Guérard des Lauriers, O.P. (1898 - 1988) was a Dominican theologian. ... Sedeprivationism is an ideological school or party of the Traditionalist Catholic movement that follows the principles of the late French theologian Michel Louis Guérard des Lauriers, O.P., as Lauriers set it out in his thesis published in the Cahiers du Cassiciacum and therefore called the Cassiciacum thesis. According... Bishop Richard Williamson, SSPX Richard Nelson Williamson, SSPX (born 8 March 1940) is a bishop of the Society of St. ... Daniel Lytle Dolan (1951 - ...), a traditional Catholic bishop, was born in Detroit, Michigan. ... Father Anthony Cekada is a Traditionalist Catholic priest and author. ... Bishop Donald J. Sanborn is a sedevacantist traditional Catholic bishop who serves as Rector of Most Holy Trinity Seminary in Warren, Michigan. ... Father Oswald Baker (1915–2004) was a controversial Catholic priest who lived in Downham Market in Norfolk. ... Conclavist Pope Pius XIII Fr. ... Sede vacante coat of arms, used by the Holy See from a Popes death to the election of his successor Sedevacantism is a theological position embraced by a minority of Traditionalist Catholics which holds that the Papal See has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in... The true Catholic Church (tCC) is a small Roman Catholic Conclavist (see sedevacantism) group based in Kalispell, Montana, United States. ...

The sedevacantist position

As with traditionalist Catholicism in general, sedevacantism owes its origins to the rejection of the theological and disciplinary changes implemented following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Sedevacantists thus reject the Council, on the basis of its documents on ecumenism and religious liberty, which they see as contradicting the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and as denying the unique mission of Catholicism as the one true religion, outside of which there is no salvation. They also say that new disciplinary norms, such as the Mass of Paul VI, promulgated on 3 April 1969, undermine or conflict with the historical Catholic faith. A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church just before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Ecumenism (also oecumenism, Å“cumenism) refers to initiatives aimed at greater religious unity or cooperation. ... The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society. ... The Mass of Pope Paul VI is the liturgy of the Catholic Mass of the Roman Rite as revised after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ...

Other traditionalist Catholics recognise Pope Paul VI and his successors as legitimate Popes and, while in some cases holding that these Popes have held and taught unorthodox beliefs, do not go so far as to affirm that they have been formal heretics or have been widely and publicly judged to be heretics. Sedevacantists, on the other hand, claim that the infallible Magisterium of the Catholic Church could not have decreed the changes made in the name of the Second Vatican Council, and conclude that those who issued these changes cannot have been acting with the authority of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, they hold that Pope Paul VI and his successors left the true Catholic Church and thus lost legitimate authority in the Church. A formal heretic, they say, cannot be the Catholic Pope. A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church just before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). ... This article cites very few or no references or sources. ... This article cites very few or no references or sources. ...

Claims used by sedevacantists to defend their position include the following:

• Most pre-Conciliar Catholic theologians and canon lawyers taught that it is inherently impossible for a heretic to hold the papal office.
• Particular provisions of Church law prevent a heretic from being elected or remaining as pope. Paul IV's 1559 Bull Cum ex apostolatus officio stipulated that a heretic cannot be elected Pope, while Canon 188.4 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law provides that a cleric who publicly defects from the Catholic faith automatically loses any office that he holds in the Church.

Mainstream Catholics have engaged sedevacantists in debate on some of these points. Brian Harrison of Puerto Rico, for example, has argued that Pope Pius XII's conclave legislation permitted excommunicated cardinals to attend, from which he argues that they could also be legitimately elected [2]. Pope Paul IV (June 28, 1476 – August 18, 1559), né Giovanni Pietro Carafa, was Pope from May 23, 1555 until his death. ... January 15 - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey. ... Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a leaden bulla. ... Canon Law is the ecclesiastical law of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Father Brian Harrison, O.S., M.A., S.T.D., is a prominent Catholic theologian and a prolific writer on religious issues. ...

Opponents of Harrison have argued that a phrase in Pope Pius XII's legislation "Cardinals who have been deposed or who have resigned, however, are barred and may not be reinstated even for the purpose of voting", though it speaks of someone deposed or resigned from the cardinalate, not of someone who may have incurred automatic excommunication but has not been officially declared excommunicated, means that, even if someone is permitted to attend, that does not automatically translate into electability.

There are estimated to be between several tens of thousands and more than two hundred thousands of sedevacantists worldwide, mostly concentrated in the United States, Canada, France, the UK, Italy, and Australia, but the actual size of the sedevacantist movement has never been accurately assessed. (See further the section on statistics in the article Traditionalist Catholic.) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church just before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). ... A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church just before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). ...

Catholic doctrine has taught that the four marks of the true Church are that it is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and sedevacantists base their claim to be the true remnant Roman Catholic Church on what they see as the presence in them of these four "marks", absent, they say, in the Church since the Second Vatican Council. Their critics counter by saying that sedevacantists are in fact not one, forming numerous splinter groups, each of them in disagreement with the others. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      For...

Most sedevacantists hold the holy orders conferred with the present revised rites of the Catholic Church to be invalid due to defect both of intention and form. They conclude that the great majority of the bishops listed in the Holy See's Annuario Pontificio are in reality laymen. Catholic deacon candidates prostrate before the altar of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles during a 2004 diaconate ordination liturgy In a general sense, the term Holy Orders refers to those in the Christian religion who have been ordained in Apostolic Succession. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      This article... The Annuario Pontificio or Pontifical Yearbook is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

Bishops

Within the Roman Catholic Church, to which sedevacantists profess to belong, canon law requires that ordination to the priesthood or diaconate be administered only by the bishop of the ordinand's own diocese or by a bishop who has received dimissorial letters from those who by law have the authority to issue such letters.^[4] Ordinations carried out in contravention of this prohibition are therefore illicit, and anyone who is ordained in that way is ipso facto suspended from the order received.^[5] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Canon law is the term used for... For other uses, see Deacon (disambiguation). ...

Present canon law forbids ordination to the episcopate without a mandate from the Pope,^[6] and both those who confer episcopal ordination without the papal mandate and those who receive it incur automatic excommunication from which only the Holy See has power to absolve.^[7] The Roman Curia therefore considers illicit all the episcopal consecrations indicated in this section. Sedevacantists, on the other hand, holding that there is no Pope to give the mandate, say that the law does not apply in the present emergency situation. The Roman Curia — usually called the Vatican — is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, coordinating and providing the necessary organisation for the correct functioning of the Catholic Church and the achievement of its goals. ...

The bishops who are or have been active within the sedevacantist movement can be divided into several categories, of which the first consists of bishops who were consecrated within the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council: the Vietnamese archbishop Ngô Ðình Thuc (who may have been reconciled to Pope John Paul II before his death in 1984), and the Chicago-born Bishop Alfredo F. Mendez (1907-1995), who in 1974 retired from being Bishop of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. In addition, the late Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer of Campos, Brazil is said to have embraced sedevacantism, at least briefly, despite his association with the non-sedevacantist Society of St. Pius X. The sedevacantist community generally accepts and respects most of the dozen or so bishops following from the three, or possibly four, final bishops that Thuc consecrated (Guerard des Lauriers, Carmona, Zamora, and Datessen), out of the two hundred or more who claim episcopal descent from him,^[8] and the one episcopal consecration by Bishop Mendez, that of Father Clarence Kelly, head of the Society of St. Pius V,^[9] who in turn has consecrated only one bishop. The Roman Curia has issued no declaration either affirming or denying the validity of these final episcopal consecrations by Thuc and that by Mendez. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Archbishop Ngô Đình Thuc Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục (chữ nôm: 吴廷俶) (approximately pronounced Ngoh Din Took ) (October 6, 1897–December 13, 1984), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam, was born in Huế, on October 6, 1897, of Catholic parents. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Gentilic: Arecibeños Location Location of Arecibo, Puerto Rico within Puerto Rico Government Founded 1616 Mayor Lemuel Soto Political party NPP Senatorial district 3 - Arecibo Representative district 13, 14 Geographical characteristics Area Total 443. ... Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer (° 1904 Campinas, São Paulo – † April 25, 1991 Campos, Rio de Janeiro) was a Roman Catholic bishop and bishop of the diocese of Campos, Brazil. ... The Society of St. ... The Society of St. ... The Roman Curia — usually called the Vatican — is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, coordinating and providing the necessary organisation for the correct functioning of the Catholic Church and the achievement of its goals. ...

Some sedevacantists are said to derive from Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa , who in 1945 set up his own Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.^[10] Dom Carlos Duarte Costa Carlos Duarte Costa or Saint Carlos of Brazil (1888-1961) was a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church; after being excommunicated by Pope Pius XII, he established the Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil. ...

Another category of sedevacantist bishops comprises those who were consecrated by Archbishop Ngô Ðình Thuc for the Carmelite Order of the Holy Face, and those who succeed from them. This particular "Thuc line" of consecrations is especially complicated, since the five men consecrated by Archbishop Ngô Ðình Thuc for this group in turn consecrated a considerable number of men. Of this group, many remained faithful to the Palmarian Church, many others left that group to "do their own thing", including one who attempted an ordination of singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor, while a few ceased to be sedevacantists and returned to full communion with Rome. The cathedral of Palmar de Troya The Palmarian Catholic Church (One Holy Catholic Apostolic and Palmarian Church) is a schismatic Catholic church with its own pope, Peter II. He is held as an antipope (a false claimant to the papacy) by the Roman Catholic Church. ... Sinéad Marie Bernadette OConnor (pronounced [1]) (born December 8, 1966) is a Grammy Award winning Irish singer and songwriter. ...

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared devoid of canonical effect the consecration ceremony conducted for this group by Archbishop Ngô at midnight of 31 December 1975, though it refrained from pronouncing on its validity. This declaration applied also to later ordinations by those who received ordination in the ceremony^[11] The seven who are known to have returned to full communion with Rome did so as laymen.^[12] The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei) is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A third category is that of those whose episcopal lines derive from schismatic bishops. Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox Bishop Yuri Yurchyk converted to sedevacantist Roman Catholicism in 2002. No substantive documentation exists to support reports denying his commitment to sedevacantism, and little information is available on him and on the existence of any line of bishops derived from him. More numerous are those who have had recourse to the Old Catholic line of succession. Bishops of this category include Francis Schuckardt and others associated with him. The orders of the original Old Catholic Church are regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as valid, but no such declaration of recognition has been issued with regard to the several Independent Catholic Churches that claim to trace their episcopal orders to this Church. Some shadow of doubt hovers over even the validity of the orders received from these bishops and the claimants have not received wide acceptance in the sedevacantist community, though most have at least some small congregation. Orthodox icon of Pentecost. ... The Old Catholic Church is not so much a religious denomination, as a community, part of whose member churches split from the Roman Catholic church in 1870. ... The Old Catholic Church is a community of Christian churches. ... Independent Catholic Churches are Christian denominations (or congregations) claiming valid apostolic succession of their bishops but are not a part of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Old Catholic Churches under the Archbishop of Utrect or the Anglican Communion. ...

A final category is that of sedevacantist bishops whose consecrations are generally regarded as outright invalid, both by sedevacantists and non-sedevacantists, because their consecration cannot be traced to validly ordained bishops who were part of the Apostolic Succession. Lucian Pulvermacher and Gordon Bateman of the small conclavist true Catholic Church are examples. In Christianity, the doctrine of Apostolic Succession (or the belief that the Church is apostolic) maintains that the Christian Church today is the spiritual successor to the original body of believers in Christ, composed of the Apostles. ... Conclavist Pope Pius XIII Fr. ... The true Catholic Church (tCC) is a small Roman Catholic Conclavist (see sedevacantism) group based in Kalispell, Montana, United States. ...

Conclavism

Pope Pius XIII of the "true Catholic Church"

As noted above, some groups have put forward their own popes in opposition to those in Rome, making them "conclavists" rather than "sedevacantists". no copyright evidence or likelihood. ... no copyright evidence or likelihood. ... The true Catholic Church (tCC) is a small Roman Catholic Conclavist (see sedevacantism) group based in Kalispell, Montana, United States. ...

In 1990 Teresa Stanfill-Benns and David Bawden called for a conclave to elect a pope. They sent their request around the world but only received six respondents. On July 16, 1990, the six gathered in Belvue, Kansas in the United States and elected Bawden who took the name Pope Michael I. This article is about the year. ... The Conclavist Antipope Michael I (David Bawden). ... is the 197th day of the year (198th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Belvue is a city located in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

Another conclavist group in Italy elected Victor von Pentz as Pope Linus II in 1994. Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ...

In October 1998, the United States-based "true Catholic Church" elected the Father Lucian Pulvermacher, a traditionalist priest, as Pope Pius XIII. This group accepts the claim that Pope John XXIII became a Freemason in 1935 while serving as papal nuncio to Turkey. It has been established, however, that Pius XIII has engaged in the practice of divining with a pendulum since his seminary days — a practice which was prohibited by Pope Pius XII and allegedly caused him to incur automatic excommunication even before his ordination to the priesthood. This revelation led some of his supporters to withdraw their allegiance from him. Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... The true Catholic Church (tCC) is a small Roman Catholic Conclavist (see sedevacantism) group based in Kalispell, Montana, United States. ... Conclavist Pope Pius XIII Fr. ... See also: 15th-century Antipope John XXIII. Pope John XXIII (Latin: ; Italian: ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ... A Papal Nuncio (also known as an Apostolic Nuncio) is a permanent diplomatic representative (head of mission) of the Holy See to a state, having ambassadorial rank. ... Dowsing is a controversial method of divination which dowsers say empowers them to find water, metals, gem stones and hidden objects by carrying some form of stick and watching its motion while walking over a piece of land. ... For other uses, see Pendulum (disambiguation). ... For the Ecuadorian artist, see Manuel Rendón Seminario. ... Pius XIIs signature Pope Pius XII (Latin: ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th pope, the human head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death. ... Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ...

As stated above, sedevacantists are opposed to conclavism.

For a full list of popes elected by conclavist groups, see the article sedevacantist antipope. Sedevacantist antipopes (more specifically but less commonly, conclavist antipopes), are religous leaders of breakaway Catholics, called sedevacantists. ...

The Palmarian Catholic Church are not strictly speaking "conclavists"; their first antipope, Gregory XVII/ Clemente Domínguez claimed to receive his office by direct divine appointment, and his successor Peter II/Manuel Corral was nominated by Gregory rather than chosen by a conclave.

Criticism

Mainstream Catholics advance against sedevacantism arguments such as:

• According to standard Catholic doctrine, the Catholic Church is a visible identifiable body that is literally catholic, in the sense of universal ('for all people'). This is seen as incompatible with the sedevacantist claim that the true nature of the Catholic Church has been hidden from the world for half a century.
• The 1870 Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus of the First Vatican Council reaffirmed that "it has always been necessary 'for every Church - that is to say the faithful throughout the world - to be in agreement with (the Roman Church) because of its pre-eminent authority" and that consequently the bishop whom the Church in Rome acknowledges as its head "is the successor of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, true vicar of Christ, head of the whole Church and father and teacher of all Christian people. To him, in blessed Peter, full power has been given by our lord Jesus Christ to tend, rule and govern the universal Church." This is seen as incompatible with the sedevacantist claim that the papal line of succession has been broken since 1958 (or 1963).
• Critics of sedevacantism argue that this also means that the theory advanced by the seventeenth-century theologian and Doctor of the Church Robert Bellarmine that a Pope who fell into heresy would automatically forfeit his office and could be formally deposed has been overruled by Church authority (in the same way that Thomas Aquinas's non-belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary was overruled by Pius IX's declaration that the Immaculate Conception was indisputably Catholic doctrine) and that sedevacantist appeals to Bellarmine's authority in this point cannot be sustained. They add that Bellarmine envisaged that such a deposition, even if possible, could only be undertaken by a significant body of the Church including many bishops and cardinals, rather than by a few individuals.
• The Catholic doctrine of the indefectibility of the Church, which appeals to Christ's promise to the Apostle Peter in Matthew 16:18 ("You are Peter (the Rock), and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it") excludes the possibility that the Catholic bishops around the world and the Pope with whom they are in communion would succumb to heresy and fall from office.
• They say that sedevacantists wrongly treat certain papal statements of the past as if they were ex cathedra declarations.
• They claim that sedevacantists fail to distinguish between matters of discipline — such as the use of Latin and of the Tridentine Mass — which can be reformed at any time, and infallible dogmatic teachings.
• They say that sedevacantists indulge in the logical fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc when they attribute problems that the Church has experienced in the Western world since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council to the reforms themselves rather than to the general decrease in religiosity in the West.

Sedevacantists advance counter-arguments, such as: The First Vatican Council was summoned by Pope Pius IX by the bull Aeterni Patris of June 29, 1868. ... This article is about Robert Bellarmine, the Catholic Saint. ... In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is the dogma that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error[1] when he solemnly declares or promulgates to the Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals as being contained in divine revelation, or at... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... The Tridentine Mass (Pontifical High Mass) being celebrated at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Wyandotte, Michigan - 1949. ... In philosophy, a formal fallacy or a logical fallacy is a pattern of reasoning which is always wrong. ... Post hoc ergo propter hoc is Latin for after this, therefore because of this. ...

• They deny that they implicitly repudiate the dogma of papal infallibility as defined at the First Vatican Council, and maintain that, on the contrary, they are the fiercest defenders of this doctrine, since they teach that the Apostolic See of Peter, under the rule of a true Pope, cannot promulgate contradictory teachings.
• To rebut the accusation of denying the catholicity and indefectibility of the Church, they say that, between the death of every Pope and the election of his successor, there is a sede vacante period during which there is no visible Head of the Church, and — while mainstream Catholics hold that, according to the dogmatic constitution Pastor aeternus of the First Vatican Council, which speaks of "perpetual successors" in the pontificate, there must be, apart from such transitory periods, a perpetual presence of the Bishop of Rome, not merely of his office — that the absence of a Pope has become a long-term feature of the Church's structure.
• They recall that, during the 40-year Great Western Schism, while nobody claimed that the see of Rome was vacant, there was uncertainty about which of the two (eventually three) claimants was the true pontiff, with even canonized saints taking opposing sides in the controversy. In his 1882 book, The Relations of the Church to Society - Theological Essays, the Jesuit theologian, Father Edmund James O'Reilly, wrote: "... not that an interregnum covering the whole period would have been impossible or inconsistent with the promises of Christ, for this is by no means manifest." [3]
• They interpret the Book of Revelation as speaking of an end-times Great Apostasy on the City of Seven Hills (Rome) and say that Our Lady of La Salette warned on 19 September 1846 that Rome would lose the faith and become the seat of the Anti-Christ.

The First Vatican Council was summoned by Pope Pius IX by the bull Aeterni Patris of June 29, 1868. ... Historical map of the Western Schism: red is support for Avignon, blue for Rome The Western Schism or Papal Schism (also known as the Great Schism of Western Christianity) was a split within the Catholic Church (1378 - 1417). ... Visions of John of Patmos, as depicted in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. ... La Salette is a mountaintop village near Grenoble, France. ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Sedevacantist groups

• Most Holy Family Monastery, a sedevacantist community living near Buffalo, New York, under the headship of Michael Dimond. His brother Peter Dimond writes most of the articles. Most Holy Family Monastery
• Catholic Restoration, a group of clerics who were ordained in the 70's by Abp. Marcel Lefebvre and became sedevacantists, together with newer priests who were trained in their seminairies.
• Society of St. Pius V, formed when nine priests of the Society of St. Pius X split from that organisation over issues of using the liturgical reforms implemented under Pius XII and publicly reciting the name of the post-conciliar pope John Paul II. The SSPV holds sedevacantism as a probable opinion and as a topic of legitimate debate, not imposing sedevacantism as a morally obliged teaching however.
• The Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục lines of episcopal succession
• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (holds Pope John XXIII to have been the last legitimate Roman Pontiff until today)
• The Society of the Immaculata, founded by Dennis McCormack.

The Society of St. ... The Society of St. ... Pope John Paul II (Latin: , Italian: , Polish: ) born   IPA: ; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) reigned as the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City from 16 October 1978, until his death, almost 27 years later, making his the second-longest... Archbishop Ngô Đình Thuc Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục (approximately pronounced Ngoh Din Took ) (October 6, 1897–December 13, 1984), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam, was born in Huế, on October 6, 1897, of affluent Catholic parents. ... The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI) (Latin: Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae) is a traditional Catholic religious community. ... See also: 15th-century Antipope John XXIII. Pope John XXIII (Latin: ; Italian: ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ...

Conclavist groups

• True Catholic Church
• Colinites

The true Catholic Church (tCC) is a small Roman Catholic Conclavist (see sedevacantism) group based in Kalispell, Montana, United States. ... Sedevacantist antipopes (more specifically but less commonly, conclavist antipopes), are religous leaders of breakaway Catholics, called sedevacantists. ...

References

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei) is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. ... is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Sedevacantist antipope
• Traditionalist Catholic
• Tridentine Mass
• Second Vatican Council
• Mass of Paul VI
• Sirianism

Sedevacantist antipopes (more specifically but less commonly, conclavist antipopes), are religous leaders of breakaway Catholics, called sedevacantists. ... A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church just before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). ... The Tridentine Mass (Pontifical High Mass) being celebrated at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Wyandotte, Michigan - 1949. ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. ... The Mass of Pope Paul VI is the liturgy of the Catholic Mass of the Roman Rite as revised after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ... Sirianism is the belief that Cardinal Joseph Siri was the true and rightful Pope elected in 1958 reigning until his eventual death on May 2, 1989. ...

External links

Sedevacantist sites

• Sedevacantism Reconsidered
• Roman Catholic Traditionalism? Sedevacantism.
• Brief Overview of Situation w/images
• Evidence of sedevacantism
• Further explanation of sedevacantism
• The Aquinas site. Sedevacantist.com.
• list of sites
• Fr Raphael Trytek
• Eclipse of the Church
• WFTS radio SSPV sermons, lectures, music
• SSPV
• Most Holy Family Monastery
• The Society of the Immaculata

Criticism

• Critique of sedevacantism by the SSPX
• Is that Chair Vacant? A dossier on sedevacantism by the Society of St. Pius X of Canada.
• Sedevacantism refuted by bishop Terence Fulham
• Against Sedevacantism. Discussion with the Dimond Brothers. By Robert Sungenis
• The insanity of sedevacantism by Robert Sungenis.
• White smoke? Valid Pope by Father Brian Harrison
• Against the Sedevacantist. By Wayne Nichols.
• Sedevacantism: a return to Protestant roots. by Jacob Michael
• Pope or Heretic? An evaluation of Benedict XVI by Jacob Michael.
• Do-It-Yourself Popes: the Wacky World of Sedevacantists (the author mistakes Palmarian conclavists for sedevacantists)
• A Prescription Against "Traditionalism" Part 3: A Refutation of the Heresy of Sedevacantism
• A Simple, Common Sense Rebuttal to SSPX, SSPV and CMRI by an uncle of a seminarian in a sedevacantist seminary
• You cannot be a Sedevacantist forever. By Phil Friedl