Sedevacantism is a traditionalist Catholic movement which holds that since the 1958 death of Pius XII the occupiers of the Holy See are not valid popes due to their espousal of one or more heresies and that, for lack of a valid pope, the See of Rome is vacant.[1][2] Sedevacantism owes its origins to the rejection of the theological and disciplinary changes implemented following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
The term sedevacantism is derived from the Latin phrase sede vacante, which means "the chair [of the Bishop of Rome] being vacant".[2][3] The phrase is commonly used to refer specifically to a vacancy of the Holy See which takes place from the pope's death or renunciation to the election of his successor.
The number of sedevacantists is unknown and difficult to measure; estimates range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.[4] Various factions of conclavists among sedevacantists have proceeded to end the perceived vacancy in the Holy See by electing their own pope.[5]
Etymology
The term sedevacantism derives from the Latin term sede vacante, which means "with the chair being vacant".[2] In the Catholic Church, when an episcopal see becomes vacant due to the death or removal of a Bishop from office for whatever reason, in the interim the diocese is automatically in a state of sede vacante, until a new designate is appointed and duly elevated to his see. With Sedevacantism, this is specifically in reference to the See of Saint Peter, i.e., the Catholic Papacy.[2] The term Sedevacantism, as a thesis that the post-Second Vatican Council claimants to the Papacy operating out of the Vatican City are non-Catholic Antipopes, originated from a 1973 work, Sede Vacante: Paul VI is Not a Legitimate Pope, by the Mexican Jesuit priest Joaquín Sáenz Arriaga. However, there were some instances of proto-sedevacatism, avant la lettre, reaching back into the 1960s.[6][7]
Sedevacantism, avant la lettre, is evidenced from the mid-1960s, as part of a response to the Second Vatican Council in the Roman Catholic Church. The earliest example is from a group of traditionalist Catholics in Mexico associated with the radical right secret society Los TECOS based in Guadalajara, in particular their spiritual director, Fr. Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga, a Jesuit priest.[8] In 1965, at a private meeting in the house of Anacleto González Guerrero (son of the Cristero martyr Anacleto González Flores), Los TECOS leaders proposed the motion that Paul VI (Giovanni Montini) was a crypto-Jew and an illegitimate Pope, and that this line should be officially adopted as the position of Mexican traditionalists.[9] A connected secret society, based in Puebla under Ramón Plata Moreno, known as El Yunque, although ultra-conservative as well and unhappy about the liberalising changes in the Catholic world, rejected the proposal, stating that Pope Paul VI was indeed the legitimate Pope of the Catholic Church. This led to a deadly split in the Mexican traditionalist scene.[9] Earlier, during the Second Vatican Council, Los TECOS had distributed the document entitled Il Complotto contro la Chiesa ("The Plot Against the Church") under the pseudonym of Maurice Pinay, warning Council fathers of a supposed "Judeo-Masonic-Communist" plot to infiltrate and destroy Christianity and the Catholic Church.[10]
Another early expositor from Latin America was Carlos Alberto Disandro in Argentina, a personal associate of Juan Perón, belonging to the Catholic wing of orthodox Peronism, who raised the question in 1969 with his book Pontificado y Pontífice: una breve quaestio teológica.[11][12]
The Mexicans, Schuckardt and SSPX-situation
As changes in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council filtered down to the local diocesean and parish level by the early 1970s, especially with the introduction of a New Order of Mass as the primary form of public worship, the sedevacantist issue began to be voiced more stridently and publicly by its advocates. One landmark was the 1971 work by Fr. Sáenz y Arriaga, called The New Montinian Church, which explicitly forwarded in a public format what have previously been private opinion circulated among these nascent groups.[8] It claimed "My suspicions appear confirmed, Giovanni Battista Montini was invalidly elected to the Papacy and, thus, is not a true Pope. Because of this ritualistic symbol of Judaism and Masonry, I suspect that Paul VI was not only the most efficient instrument of the "Jewish Mafia," but an integral part of this Mafia." A public controversy ensued and the Vatican, acting through the local ordinary, Cardinal Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez declared the suspension a divinis of the Jesuit priest.[8] He founded the publication Trento (in reference to the Council of Trent) in 1972 to promote sedevacantism, along with Mexican priests, Fr. Moisés Carmona and Fr. Adolfo Zamora.[8] This was followed up by the 1973 work Sede Vacante: Paul VI is Not a Legitimate Pope, from which the theory was framed more comprehensively and which the movement would derive its name.[8]
Francis Schuckardt was a major figure in American sedevacantism, founding what would eventually become the CMRI. His reception of religious orders from Old Catholic sources would remain a subject of contention.
In the United States, the sedevacantist issue had been raised privately as early as 1967 by Dr. Hugo Maria Kellner, a Bavarian-born American,[13] in a letter to Cardinal Michael Browne. The earliest American traditionalist organisation to take up the line of Fr. Sáenz y Arriaga was the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement, which was founded in 1973 under Fr. Francis Fenton, a member of the National Council of the John Birch Society.[14] The group also included Fr. Robert McKenna who would go on to become a significant figure in sedevacantism and later a Thục-line Bishop. However, the most numerically significant American group would be founded by a Catholic layman, Francis Schuckardt, eventually called the Traditional Latin Rite Catholic Church (TLRCC).[15] He had been a circuit speaker for the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, warning about the "threat of communism" and promoting the message of Our Lady of Fatima in a Cold War climate. Dismissed from the group for rejecting Vatican II, he founded his own group called the Fatima Crusaders in 1968 at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.[16] He claimed that Paul VI was an antipope and that the Holy See was vacant.[16] Seeking a clerical vocation, he was ordained and consecrated by Daniel Q. Brown in 1971. However, these orders were not without controversy in Catholic circles, due to fact that Brown's lineage was Old Catholic and came from the North American Old Roman Catholic Church (defined as schismatic according to Roman Catholicism), coupled with criticisms of Schuckardt for nurturing a "cult of personality" among his followers.[16]
The Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 as a "pious union" with the permission of François Charrière, the sitting Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland, was by far the largest traditionalist Catholic organisation internationally, founded to pushback against the introduction of a New Order of Mass and aspects of the Second Vatican Council.[17][18] The public line taken by Lefebvre during his lifetime and the SSPX since, is to affirm the legitimacy of the claimants to the Papacy in the Vatican City, but to "resist" anything they claim is contrary to Catholic tradition; thus, as part of the traditionalist Catholic movement, they are adjacent to sedevacantism and have some overlap, but do not hold to the sedevacantist line and write articles in their journals critiquing it.[19][15] According to former members of the SSPX such as Fr. Noël Barbara (a leading French sedevacantist) and Fr. Francesco Ricossa (who would go on to found the sedevacantist IMBC in Italy); the toleration of sedevacantism as "personal opinion" within the SSPX depended on their relationship with the Vatican at the time.[20] In the aftermath of the canonical visitation to the International Seminary of Saint Pius X in 1974, which led to the Vatican's withdrawl of the SSPX's "pious union" status, individual sedevacantists were tolerated and Archbishop Lefebvre stated to Cardinal Giovanni Benelli in 1976 after his suspension a divinis, "The post-Concillar Church is a schismatic Church, since it has broke with the Catholic Church that has always been", without explicitly saying that Paul VI was not the Pope.[19] This rhetoric was toned down with the rise of John Paul II, whom Lefebvre approached for dialogue, asking for "the right to make the experiment of tradition" within the structures of the post-Vatican II Church and there was a crackdown on internal divergence, as Lefebvre explicitly stated "The Fraternity of St. Pius X cannot tolerate in its midst members who refuse to pray for the pope and who affirm that all masses in the novus ordo missæ are invalid."[20]
This section is missing information about who, when and in what circumstances started the movement. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(December 2023)
Sedevacantism is based on rejection of theological and disciplinary changes implemented following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).[21] Sedevacantists reject this council, on the basis of their interpretations of its documents on ecumenism and religious liberty, among others, 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.[22] 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 and are deemed blasphemous, while post-Vatican II teachings, particularly those related to ecumenism, are labelled heresies.[23] They conclude, on the basis of their rejection of the revised Mass rite and of postconciliar church teaching as false, that the popes involved are also false.[1] Even amongst traditionalist Catholics,[2][24] this is a quite divisive question.[1][2]
Traditionalist Catholics who are not sedevacantists recognize the line of popes leading to and including Pope Leo XIV as legitimate.[25] Sedevacantists, however, 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 those who issued these changes could not have been acting with the authority of the Catholic Church.[26] Accordingly, they hold that Pope John XXIII and his successors have left the true Catholic Church and thus lost legitimate authority. A notorious heretic, they say, cannot be the Catholic pope.[27]
Most sedevacantists believe that this Great Apostasy started with the Second Vatican Council, although there are disagreements about whether the last legitimate Pope was John XXIII or Pius XII, with the latter position being held by those who believe the 1958 conclave results were illegitimate; this particular belief is usually associated with the Giuseppe Siri conspiracy theory. However, there are other sedevacantist positions[28] that describe the Great Apostasy as having started with Benedict XV in 1914, meaning that Pope Pius XII and Pope Pius XI were also heretics and making the last legitimate Pope Saint Pius X.[29]
Some sedevacantists accept the consecrations and ordinations of sedevacantist bishops and priests, and the offering of Masses and the administration of sacraments by the said bishops and priests, to be licit because of epikea,[31][32][33] i.e. "the interpretation of the mind and will of him who made the law".[34] In this case, the ecclesiastical laws (e.g. prohibition of consecrations of bishops without papal mandate; prohibition of administration of sacraments without ecclesiastical authorization) are interpreted to cease when to follow them would be impossible, harmful, or unreasonable, or would mean transgressing divine laws (e.g. the church must have bishops and priests; Catholics must attend Mass and receive the sacraments), and because of a historical precedent for consecrating Catholic bishops during a long vacancy of the Holy See.[31][32]
Liturgy
Anthony Cekada considers that a question among sedevacantists is whether it is permissible to go to "una cum" Masses. These are Traditional Latin Masses naming the man considered by the majority of Catholics as the Pope in the Roman Canon in the "Te igitur" prayer, specifically where the priest says "una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N" ("together with Your Servant N., our Pope.") Cekada argues that it is not, under any circumstances, permissible.[35]
Citing the opinion of Francisco de Vitoria, Professor Tomás Tello Corraliza proposed that "faithful bishops" in General Council could theoretically elect a new Pope.
One of the theoretical issues grappled with within sedevacantism, given the central importance of the Papacy within the Catholic Church, is if there is currently no legitimate Pope, how the period of sede vacante could be ended and a future “legitimate” (according to the sedevacantist theory) Pope could be appointed.[37] Since the 1990s, a small number of ex-sedevacantists became conclavists and have had themselves "elected" claiming to be Pope, using different methods; the most notable of these are David Bawden, Victor von Pentz and Lucian Pulvermacher, but they gained negligible acceptance and credibility within sedevacantism.[38][39]
Given that all of the Cardinals created by Pius XII and all of those appointed before his reign (as well as Cardinals created by John XXIII if he is accepted as a true Pope) are now deceased, it would today be practically impossible within the ideological framework of sedevacantism for a College of Cardinals through a Papal conclave to elect a new Pope, as had been the established norm before the Second Vatican Council.[37] This is because sedevacantists do not recognise the Cardinals created by Paul VI onward (and in many cases John XXIII) as legitimate appointments because they were the creation of supposed “Antipopes.”[37]
Professor Tomás Tello Corraliza, a Spanish sedevacantist, authored a study in 1994 entitled “The Election of the Pope," exploring possibilities.[37] This was subsequently published in the German journal Einsicht (No. 1, February 2003), edited by Dr. Eberhard Heller, where he explores the opinions of influential Catholic theologians on this question, including Thomas Cajetan, Robert Bellarmine, Francisco de Vitoria, John of St. Thomas, Dom Gréa, Louis Billot and Charles Journet.[37] Cajetan and Bellarmine held the view that a Pope need only be elected by the clergy of Rome and/or suburbicarian Roman bishops, while Dom Gréa’s view was that it must be by Cardinals.[37] Another position, favoured by Tello, is that of de Vitoria, founder of the School of Salamanca, who in his work De ecclesiastica potestate (“On the Church Power”), suggested in the absence of Cardinals, faithful Catholic Bishops in General Council (to the exclusion of the laity and lower clergy) could elected a new Pope.[37]
Believers and organisations
Because sedevacantists, particularly the laity, are not concentrated into one single organisation, it is difficult to ascertain exact numbers of sedevacantists in the world, however the number has been estimated at around 30,000 people worldwide.[15] These are mostly concentrated in the United States, Mexico, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and the United Kingdom, but the actual size of the movement has never been accurately assessed. It remains extremely difficult to do so for a wide range of reasons, such as the fact that not all sedevacantists identify as such, nor do they necessarily belong to avowedly sedevacantist groups or societies.[40]
Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV), formed in 1983 when nine American priests split from the Society of Saint Pius X over a number of issues including using the liturgical books implemented under Pope John XXIII. It operates in North America from Oyster Bay Cove, New York, United States, and was headed by Bishop Clarence Kelly until his death in December 2023.[41]
Sociedad Sacerdotal Trento ("Tridentine Priestly Society"; SST), previously known as the Unión Católica Trento (“Tridentine Catholic Union”),[42] formed in 1977 by Moisés Carmona and Adolfo Zamora. It operates mainly in Mexico. Aquired its current name in 1993 under its bishop Martín Dávila Gandara.[42]
Mary's Little Remnant's congregation, presided by Richard Ibranyi[43] and William George Norris,[44] who believes that the Catholic Church has been ruled by Antipopes for nearly 1,000 years, thus the Holy See being vacant since Pope Innocent II acceptance of Thomism.[45]
Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga, a MexicanJesuit priest and theologian who put forward sedevacantist ideas in his books The New Montinian Church (August 1971) and Sede Vacante (1973).
Francis E. Fenton, an American priest inspired by Sáenz's writings and founded the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement as an American parallel to the Mexican Unión Católica Trento.
The only known Catholic bishop consecrated before the Second Vatican Council who publicly became sedevacantist was Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục (consecrated in 1938), former Vicar Apostolic of Vĩnh Long, Vietnam and former Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam.
Bishop Alfredo Méndez-Gonzalez (consecrated in 1960), former Bishop of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, though not having publicly identified as a sedevacantist, associated himself with sedevacantist priests and consecrated a bishop for them.
Thục-line bishops
Many sedevacantist bishops derive their claims to holy orders and episcopacy from Archbishop Thục or bishops of his lineage.
Some bishops in the sedevacantist world dervive their lineage from the Palmarian Catholic Church (also known as the Carmelites of the Holy Face); this is due to Thục having consecrated as Bishop Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, later the Pope of the Palmarian Church and consequently the Palmarians making many more consecrations. An example of this from Spain is the case of sedevacantist bishop Pablo de Rojas Sánchez-Franco of the Pía Unión de San Pablo Apóstol, who was consecrated a bishop by Ricardo Subirón Ferrandis, a former Palmarian bishop turned sedevacantist.[46] De Rojas was at the centre of a significant controversy in 2024, as an entire monastery of nuns belonging to the Poor Clares from Belorado near Burgos, broke with the Vatican and came over to the sedevacantists under his protection.[46][47][48]
On 17 October 1981, Thục consecrated the sedevacantist Mexican priests Moisés Carmona and Adolfo Zamora as bishops.[49] Carmona and Zamora had been sedevacantist leaders and propagators in Mexico.[51]
A separate minority position called Benevacantism (a portmanteau of "Benedict" and "sedevacantism") holds that Pope Benedict XVI continued as pope following his resignation, with Pope Francis ruling as a heretical antipope.[56][57] Since Benedict's death, some Benevacantists now hold to sedevacantism, while others considered Francis to be the Pope until Francis' death in 2025.[58] The Vatican for its part, rarely acknowledges or addresses the claims of sedevacantists at all, however after increased visibility during the time of Francis, in 2024 he compared sedevacantists to "mushrooms" and said "they carry sadness in their hearts, I have compassion for them".[59][60]
Anderson, Scott (1986). Inside the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated the World Anti-Communist League. Dodd, Mead & Co.ISBN9780396085171.
Wójcik, Daniel (1997). The End of the World As We Know It: Faith, Fatalism, and Apocalypse in America. New York University Press. ISBN9780585480091. IAendofworldaswekn0000wjci.
Cuneo, Michael W. (1997). The Smoke of Satan: Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in Contemporary American Catholicism. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780195113501.
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