Sedevacantism is the belief that since the time of Pope John XXIII, who called the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, the office of pope of the Roman Catholic Church is not legitimately held by the persons widely acknowledged as pope, sitting in the Vatican. The term sede vacante is Latin for empty chair. In standard Catholic Church usage, it refers to the vacancy in the papal office between the death or resignation of the pope and the election of his successor. Sedevacantists hold that the office has been vacant since 1958, the year when Pope John XXIII was elected.
Generally, Sedevacantists consider themselves traditional Catholics who oppose the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the replacement of the Latin language Tridentine Roman Missal and its order of Mass with a new one which allows the celebration of the Mass in the vernacular. They insist that the men who have occupied the Vatican palace since the latter part of the 20th century are heretics for promulagating those changes. Other traditionalists maintain that the popes since Pope Pius XII, although they may have personally held many of what some traditionalists perceive as scandalous heretical beliefs, nevertheless were true popes who never tried to use their infallible power (which is only used exceptionally) to promulgate a heresy, which all Catholics believe would be impossible.
The Sedevacantist view is often based in part on the decree on Papal Infallibility of the First Vatican Council. If a pope promulgates heresy, they reason, he lacks infallibility and thus cannot be the Pope. Alternatively, a pope falls from office if he embraces heresy and even if he does not explicitly promulgate heretical teachings by doing so. Sedevacantists also cite Paul IV's 1559 Bull Cum ex apostolatus officio, which teaches that a heretic cannot be elected pope.
Sedevacantists also argue that recent occupants of the Vatican palace have performed actions that they believe could not be carried out by true popes, often pointing to Pope Paul VI's (reigned: 1963-1978) refusal to wear the papal tiara, the traditional symbol of the papacy. Sedevacantists also note that Pope John Paul I (reigned: August-September 1978) abandoned the Papal Coronation and that Pope John Paul II (reigned: 1978-2005) declined to take the Papal oath.
Some groups have put forward their own popes in opposition to those in Rome, making them conclavists rather than sedevacantists in the strict sense of the word. The Palmar de Troya movement asserts that Christ appeared to Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, a Spaniard, and told him that he was to assume the papacy on Pope Paul VI's death. This claimant, known as Pope Gregory XVII, died in March 2005.
The United States-based true Catholic Church elected a traditionalist priest to be Pope Pius XIII in the late 1990s, claiming that all popes following the death of Pope Pius XII (reigned: 1939-1958) were invalidly elected or disqualified by virtue of their excommunication. This group claims that Pope John XXIII (reigned: 1958-1963) joined the freemasons in 1935, an act that, if true, would have earned automatic excommunication and so made him ineligible for the papacy.
Sedevacantists are a small group compared to the mainstream of Catholicism, with a membership of only a few thousand. However, they assert that unity, sanctity, catholicity and apostolicity are the characteristics that make theirs the legitimate Catholic Church, and not the size of their membership. Many mainstream Catholics, however, argue that the Church's catholicity (universality) means precisely that: The true Catholic Church is universal and its truth cannot be hidden. Sedevacantists (or conclavists) argue that the true nature of the Catholic Church has been successfully hidden from the world for nearly fifty years and that only they have uncovered it. Mainstream Catholicism considers this a heretical position.
Some sedevacantists in England prefer to be called recusants instead.
One group of conclavists believe that Karol Wojtyła was a heretical antipope, but also accept the Catholic doctrine that there will be a perpetual line of successors in the Papacy. These conclavists elected David Bawden as Pope Michael on July 16, 1990. Others have rejected this pope in favor of other conclaves that have elected Victor von Pentz (Pope Linus II) and Lucian Pulvermacher (Pope Pius XIII). For a full list of rival popes elected by sedevacantist groups, see the article Antipope.
Main sedevacanist groups
See also
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 14:33:38
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
