Everything about Antipopes totally explained
An
antipope (
Latin:
antipapa) is a person who makes a widely accepted claim to be the lawful
pope, in opposition to the pope recognized by the
Roman Catholic Church. In the past antipopes were typically those supported by a fairly significant faction of
cardinals. Persons who claim to be the pope but have few followers, such as the modern
sedevacantist antipopes, are not generally counted as antipopes, and therefore are ignored for
regnal numbering.
In its list of the popes, the
Holy See's annual directory,
Annuario Pontificio, attaches to the name of
Pope Leo VIII (963-965) the following note: "
At this point, as again in the mid-eleventh century, we come across elections in which problems of harmonising historical criteria and those of theology and canon law make it impossible to decide clearly which side possessed the legitimacy whose factual existence guarantees the unbroken lawful succession of the successors of Saint Peter. The uncertainty that in some cases results has made it advisable to abandon the assignation of successive numbers in the list of the popes." In all cases it's clear that, whoever was the pope, the other was an antipope, since the claim of each was widely accepted.
History
Hippolytus (d. 235) is commonly recognized as the earliest antipope, as he protested against
Pope Callixtus I and headed a separate group within the
Latin Church. Hippolytus was later reconciled to Callixtus's second successor
Pope Pontian, when both were condemned to the mines on the island of
Sardinia. He has been
canonised by the Church. Whether two or more persons have been confused in this account of Hippolytus, and whether Hippolytus actually declared himself to be the Bishop of
Rome, remains unclear, especially since no such claim is found in the writings attributed to him.
The
Catholic Encyclopedia also mentions a Natalius, before Hippolytus, as first antipope, who, according to Eusebius's EH5.28.8-12, quoting the
Little Labyrinth of Hippolytus, after being "
scourged all night by the holy angels", covered in ash, dressed in
sackcloth, and "after some difficulty", tearfully submitted to
Pope Zephyrinus. As proof of the angels' actual intervention, Natalius displayed the wounds they'd left on his back.
Novatian (d. 258), another third-century figure, certainly claimed the See of Rome in opposition to
Pope Cornelius, and is thus reckoned as the first unequivocal antipope.
The period when antipopes were most numerous was during the struggles between the popes and the
Holy Roman Emperors of the
11th and
12th centuries. The emperors frequently imposed their own nominees in order to further their cause. The popes, likewise, sometimes sponsored rival imperial claimants in
Germany in order to overcome a particular emperor.
The Great
Western Schism, which, on the grounds of the allegedly invalid election of
Pope Urban VI, began in 1378 with the election of
Clement VII, who took up residence in
Avignon,
France, led to two, and eventually three, rival lines of claimants to papacy: the Roman line, the Avignon line, and the Pisan line. The last-mentioned line was named after the town of
Pisa,
Italy, where the council that elected
Alexander V as a third claimant was held. To end the schism, in May 1415, the
Council of Constance deposed
John XXIII of the Pisan line, whose claim to legitimacy was based on a council's choice.
Pope Gregory XII of the Roman line resigned in July 1415. In 1417, the Council of Florence also formally deposed
Benedict XIII of the
Avignon line, but he refused to resign. Afterwards,
Pope Martin V was elected and was accepted everywhere, except in the small and rapidly diminishing area that remained faithful to
Benedict XIII. The scandal of the Great Schism created anti-papal sentiment and fed into the
Protestant Reformation at the turn of the
16th century.
Modern
Modern antipopes are usually religious leaders of breakaway
Roman Catholics who reject the commonly recognized popes and instead claim the papacy themselves. The
Roman Catholic Church regards these as excommunicated
schismatics and some as
heretics. As most of the groups derive from
sedevacantist groups, they're often called 'sedevacantist' antipopes or, more correctly but also less commonly, as 'conclavist' antipopes. However these terms are not fully accurate because a sedevacantist believes that there currently is no reigning pope. If they elect a pope from among them, then are no longer considered to be sedevacantists, because they've their own pope. And conclavist isn't completely accurate either as they're not elected during any conclave whatsoever, and don't participate in any conclaves.
Other individuals who have been chosen (or have set themselves up) as replacement popes are sometimes called antipopes. In contrast to historical antipopes, the number of their followers is minuscule and therefore they're mostly not regarded as serious claimants to the papacy along the lines of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, which defined
antipope as: "one who opposes the legitimately elected Bishop of Rome, endeavours to secure the papal throne, and to some degree succeeds materially in the attempt."
Some modern anti-popes have developed their own religious infrastructure, thus being popes of their particular
sect. A significant number of them have taken the name Peter II, due to
its special significance.
List of historical antipopes
The list of popes and antipopes in the
Annuario Pontificio doesn't include Natalius (perhaps because of the uncertainty of the evidence) nor
Antipope Clement VIII. It may be that the following of the latter was considered insufficiently significant, like that of "Benedict XIV", who is mentioned along with him in the
Catholic Encyclopedia article on
Pope Martin V
.
As for
Sylvester III, sometimes listed as an antipope, the Holy See's Annuario Pontificio classifies him as a pope, not an antipope. In line with its above-quoted remark on the obscurities about the canon law of the time and the historical facts, especially in the mid-eleventh century (see the second paragraph of this article), it makes no judgement on the legitimacy of his takeover of the position of pope in 1045. The
Catholic Encyclopedia places him in its
List of Popes, though with the annotation: "Considered by some to be an antipope".
List of current claimants
Whilst all modern claimants to the Papacy in opposition to
Pope Benedict XVI are technically antipopes, none of them have received wide enough recognition, as defined earlier, to be considered true antipopes. Therefore the antipopes listed below have a very limited following, ranging from very few to several hundred adherents.
Colinites
In 1950, Frenchman
Jean Colin claimed to receive revelations and to continue and to fulfil the 1873 message of
Mélanie Calvat, the seer of
La Salette. Subsequently,
Pope Pius XII publicly declared him by name a
vitandus excommunicate, 'one who should be avoided'.
Colin claimed to have been made pope as Clement XV, even while Pius XII was alive, and in
1963 founded the ultra-liberal, ultra-modernist
The Renewed Church of Christ or
Church of the Magnificat, based first in
Lyons, then at
St. Jovite,
Quebec,
Canada. The Colinites have since disintegrated into several factions, with one successor pope in France.
A larger faction is led by
Jean-Gaston Tremblay, one of Colin's disciples, who declared himself constituted pope by apparition, even before Colin had died, and who calls himself
John-Gregory XVII. He is now based in St. Jovite, as head of the
Order of the Magnificat and
The Apostles of the Latter Days. The
1846 secret of Mélanie Calvet, which called for the constitution of these Apostles of the Latter Days is central to his claims and mission.
Palmarian Catholic Church
The
Palmarian Catholic Church regards as true popes those until
1978, including
Pope Paul VI, who is revered by them as a martyr. Palmarians don't claim the
See of Rome, but hold that the Pope of Rome is excommunicated and that the position of the
Holy See has been transferred to the See of
El Palmar de Troya, on the grounds of claimed apparitions.
Other movements
These antipopes are for the most part not self-proclaimed in the strictest sense. They organised elections by allegedly faithful Catholics, none of whom being a recognized
cardinal. The smallest verified
conclave was attended by only three electors, the largest is claimed to have comprised more than sixty-one electors. Examples are:
Mirko Krav Fabris (Krav I), (since 1978), elected in Zagreb, Croatia.
David Bawden (Michael I), (since 1990) elected in Kansas, United States of America
Lucian Pulvermacher (Pius XIII) (since 1998), elected in Montana, United States of America, pope of the so-called True Catholic Church.
Raphael Titus Otieno (since 2004), third of the Legio Maria popes (since 1962) of western Kenya
Fiction
Antipopes have appeared as fictional characters. These may be either in historical fiction, as fictional portraits of well-known historical antipopes or in the guise of imaginary antipopes.
Jean Raspail's novels of — L'Anneau du pêcheur (The Fisherman's Ring) — and Gérard Bavoux — Le Porteur de lumière (The Light-bringer) feature two antipopes. From two rather different perspectives these recount the fictional history of a parallel hierarchy, by which in secret French cardinals nominated the true Pope. As it's told, the antipope Benedict XV', Pierre Tifane, was recognized as pope in Avignon from 1437 to 1470. His successor, the antipope Benedict XVI (not to be confused with the validly-elected 21st century Pope Benedict XVI), Jean Langlade, reigned there from 1470 to 1499. These books build on claims that Jean Carrier, the second antipope Benedict XIV, nominated cardinals who were to continue this antipapal line, in the Great Schism.
Robert Rankin's first part of his comic fantasy The Brentford Trilogy is called The Antipope, and features the resurrected Pope Alexander VI, the last Borgia pope.
Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz makes repeated reference to an Antipope Vissarion, leader of the Vissarionist Schism of ca. 3000 AD. Several popes in the sequel, the post-apocalyptical novel Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman are called antipopes during or after their papacies.
The fictional synth-pop artist Zladko Vladcik claims to be The Anti-Pope in one of his songs.
Dan Simmons's novels Endymion and Rise of Endymion feature a Father Paul Duré who is the routinely murdered antipope Teilhard I.
S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire and its sequels feature an antipope named Leo, who is set up by one of the surviving communities of Western Oregon after the "the Change." After communications with Europe are reestablished, and the death of this antipope and his secular sponsor, his followers are reconciled with the Church.
Ralph McInerny's novel The Red Hat features a schism between liberals and conservatives following the election of a conservative African Pope; the liberal faction, taking as pretext the exclusion from a previous conclave of a number of cardinals who had been named but not formally appointed before the Pope's death, elect an Italian cardinal who calls himself "Pius XIII".Further Information
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