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Sedevacantism is atraditionalist Catholic movement which holds that since the 1958 death ofPius XII the occupiers of theHoly See are notvalid popes due to their espousal of one or moreheresies and that, for lack of a validpope, theSee of Rome is vacant.[1][2] Sedevacantism owes its origins to the rejection of the theological and disciplinary changes implemented following theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965).
The termsedevacantism is derived from the Latin phrasesede vacante, which means "the chair [of theBishop 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 orrenunciation to theelection 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 ofconclavists among sedevacantists have proceeded to end the perceived vacancy in the Holy See by electing their own pope.[5]
The termsedevacantism derives from the Latin termsede vacante, which means "with the chair being vacant".[2] In theCatholic Church, when anepiscopal 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 ofsede vacante, until a new designate is appointed and duly elevated to his see. With Sedevacantism, this is specifically in reference to the See ofSaint Peter, i.e., the CatholicPapacy.[2]
The Sedevacantist thesis that the post-Second Vatican Council claimants to the Papacy operating out of theVatican City are non-CatholicAntipopes, originated from a 1973 work,Sede Vacante: Paul VI is Not a Legitimate Pope, by the Mexican Jesuit priestJoaquín Sáenz Arriaga. However, there were some instances of proto-sedevacatism,avant la lettre, reaching back into the 1960s.[6][7]
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Sedevacantism,avant la lettre, is evidenced from the mid-1960s, as part of a response to theSecond Vatican Council in theRoman Catholic Church. The earliest example is from a group oftraditionalist Catholics in Mexico associated with the radical right secret societyLos TECOS based inGuadalajara, 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 theCristero martyrAnacleto González Flores),Los TECOS leaders proposed the motion thatPaul VI (Giovanni Montini) was acrypto-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 inPuebla under Ramón Plata Moreno, known asEl Yunque, although ultra-conservative as well and unhappy about the liberalising changes in the Catholic world, rejected the proposal ofLos TECOS, 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 a document entitledComplotto 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 wasCarlos Alberto Disandro in Argentina, a personal associate ofJuan Perón, belonging to the Catholic wing oforthodox Peronism, who raised the question in 1969 with his bookPontificado y Pontífice: una breve quaestio teológica.[11][12]
As changes in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council filtered down to the localdiocesan andparish level by the early 1970s, especially with the introduction of aNew 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, calledThe New Montinian Church, which explicitly brought into the public sphere views that had previously circulated in private among these nascent groups.[8]The New Montinian Church 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 ofJudaism andMasonry, 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, CardinalMiguel Darío Miranda y Gómez declared thesuspension a divinis of the Sáenz y Arriaga.[8]
Sáenz y Arriaga founded the publicationTrento (in reference to theCouncil 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 workSede Vacante: Paul VI is Not a Legitimate Pope, from which the theory was framed more comprehensively and from which the sedevacantist movement would derive its name.[8]
The earliest American traditionalist organisation to take up the line of Fr. Sáenz y Arriaga was theOrthodox Roman Catholic Movement, which was founded in 1973 under Fr. Francis Fenton (a member of the National Council of theJohn Birch Society[13]). 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 theTraditional Latin Rite Catholic Church (TLRCC).[14]
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Sedevacantism is based on rejection of theological and disciplinary changes implemented following theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965).[15] Sedevacantists reject this council, on the basis of their interpretations of its documents onecumenism andreligious liberty, among others, which they see as contradicting the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and as denying the unique mission of Catholicism as theone true religion,outside of which there is no salvation.[16] They also say that new disciplinary norms, such as theMass of Paul VI promulgated on 3 April 1969, undermine or conflict with the historical Catholic faith and are deemedblasphemous, while post-Vatican II teachings, particularly those related to ecumenism, are labelledheresies.[17] They conclude, on the basis of their rejection of therevised Mass rite and of postconciliar church teaching as false, that the popes involved are also false.[1] Even amongsttraditionalist Catholics,[2][18] this is a quite divisive question.[1][2]
Traditionalist Catholics who are not sedevacantists recognize the line of popes leading to and includingPope Leo XIV as legitimate.[19] Sedevacantists, however, claim that the infallibleMagisterium 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.[20] Accordingly, they hold thatPope John XXIII and his successorshave left the true Catholic Church and thus lost legitimate authority. Anotorious heretic, they say, cannot be the Catholic pope.[21]
Most sedevacantists believe that thisGreat Apostasy started with theSecond Vatican Council, although there are disagreements about whether the last legitimate Pope wasJohn XXIII orPius XII, with the latter position being held by those who believe the1958 conclave results were illegitimate; this particular belief is usually associated with theGiuseppe Siri conspiracy theory. However, there are other sedevacantist positions that describe the Great Apostasy as having started withBenedict XV in 1914, meaning thatPope Pius XII andPope Pius XI were also heretics and making the last legitimate PopeSaint Pius X.[22]
While sedevacantist arguments often hinge on interpretations ofmodernism as being aheresy, this is also debated.[clarification needed][23]
An issue facing sedevacantists in attempting to justify their position, was how to deal with the question of who from a Catholic perspective has the legitimate authority to judge or declare a man, who the world at large considered the legitimate Pope (Paul VI), to instead be a non-CatholicAntipope and manifest, public and notorious heretic.[24]
The “Jesuit” faction, represented by Fr.Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga and his base within the Mexican sedevacantists and later American factions influenced by them such as theCMRI, looked especially to Doctor of the Church,Robert Bellarmine andFrancisco Suárez.[24] The CMRI cites Bellarmine, writing in hisDe Romano Pontifice: “The pope manifestly a heretic ceases by himself to be pope and head, in the same way as he ceases to be a Christian and a member of the body of the Church; and for this reason, he can be judged and punished by the Church. This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers, who teach that manifest heretics lose immediately all jurisdiction.”[25] That is to say, by becoming a public and notorious heretic, a reigning Pontiff tacitly resigns office automaticallyby the very act of consenting to heresy itself, without any formal procedure being required.
Given that the sedevacantist movement during the time of Paul VI consisted of a very small number of lower clergymen who had been ordained by the Roman Catholic Church and laymen who had followed them (being without a single Bishop who publicly endorsed the sedevacantist position in public untilNgô Đình Thục in the early 1980s), the likelihood that such juridical proceedings by a General Council would be initiated against Paul VI was incredibly marginal. After the death of Paul VI in 1978, the opportunity to do this had passed and Guérard des Lauriers was forced, by the logic of his own arguments, to adopt the position ofsedeprivationism in 1979 – breaking with sedevacantism proper or “totalism” as it is sometimes called – claiming instead that the Vatican-based, post-Conciliar claimants to the Papacy were indeed Popes “materially but not formally.”[26]
Since the 1990s, a small number of ex-sedevacantists becameconclavists and have had themselves "elected" claiming to be Pope, using different methods; the most notable of these areDavid Bawden, Victor von Pentz andLucian Pulvermacher, but they gained negligible acceptance and credibility within sedevacantism.[28][29]
Professor Tomás Tello Corraliza, a Spanish sedevacantist, authored a study in 1994 entitled “The Election of the Pope," exploring possibilities. This was subsequently published in the German journalEinsicht (No. 1, February 2003), edited by Dr. Eberhard Heller, where he explores the opinions of influential Catholic theologians on this question, includingThomas Cajetan,Robert Bellarmine,Francisco de Vitoria,John of St. Thomas,Dom Gréa,Louis Billot andCharles Journet.[27] Another position, favoured by Tello, is that of de Vitoria, founder of theSchool of Salamanca, who in his workDe 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 elect a new Pope.[27]
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 belicit because ofepikea,[30][31][32] i.e. "the interpretation of the mind and will of him who made the law".[33]
Anthony Cekada considers that a question among sedevacantists is whether it is permissible to go to"una cum" Masses and whether or not it amounts to amortal sin. These"una cum" masses are Traditional Latin Masses naming the man in theVatican City whom most of the world considers to be the Pope, in theRoman 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.[34]
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.[14] These are mostly concentrated in theUnited States,Mexico,Canada,France,Italy,Spain,Australia and theUnited 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.[35]
Sedevacantist groups include:
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Early proponents of sedevacantism include:
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The only known Catholic bishop consecrated before the Second Vatican Council who publicly became sedevacantist was Vietnamese ArchbishopNgô Đình Thục (consecrated in 1938), former Vicar Apostolic ofVĩnh Long,Vietnam and former Archbishop ofHuế, Vietnam.
BishopAlfredo Méndez-Gonzalez (consecrated in 1960), former Bishop ofArecibo,Puerto Rico, though not having publicly identified as a sedevacantist, associated himself with sedevacantist priests and consecrated a bishop for them.
Many sedevacantist bishops derive their claims toholy orders andepiscopacy from ArchbishopThục or bishops of his lineage.
Some bishops in the sedevacantist world derive their lineage from thePalmarian Catholic Church (also known as the Carmelites of the Holy Face); this is due to Thục having consecrated as BishopClemente Domínguez y Gómez, later thePope 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.[37] De Rojas was at the centre of a significant controversy in 2024, as an entire monastery of nuns belonging to thePoor Clares fromBelorado nearBurgos, broke with the Vatican and came over to the sedevacantists under his protection.[37][38][39]
On 7 May 1981, Thục consecrated thesedeprivationist French priestMichel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers as a bishop.[40] Des Lauriers was a FrenchDominican theologian and a papal advisor.[41]
On 17 October 1981, Thục consecrated the sedevacantist Mexican priestsMoisés Carmona and Adolfo Zamora as bishops.[40] Carmona and Zamora had been sedevacantist leaders and propagators in Mexico.[42]
The Vatican declared Thụclatae sententiaeexcommunicated for these consecrations and for his declaration of Sedevacantism.[40]
On 19 October 1993, inCarlsbad, California, United States,Bishop Méndez-Gonzalez consecrated the sedevacantistClarence Kelly of theSociety of Saint Pius V (SSPV) to the episcopacy. By Méndez's wish, the consecration was kept secret until his death in 1995.[43]
A considerable number of sedevacantist bishops are thought to derive their holy orders from BishopCarlos Duarte Costa, who in 1945 set up his own independentBrazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.[44][page needed] While Duarte Costa was not a sedevacantist, he instead questioned the papacy as an institution, denyingpapal infallibility and rejecting thepope's universal jurisdiction.[45] In further contrast to most Catholic traditionalists, Duarte Costa wasleft-wing.[46]
In contrast to sedevacantists,sedeprivationists affirm theThesis of Cassiciacum by theDominican theologian BishopMichel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers as being a valid position, which states that John XXIII and his successors are popesmaterialiter sed non formaliter ("materially but not formally"), and that post-Vatican II popes will become legitimate once they recant their heresies.
Sedeprivationism is the position endorsed by theIstituto Mater Boni Consilii.[47]
A separate minority position calledBenevacantism (aportmanteau of "Benedict" and "sedevacantism") holds thatPope Benedict XVI continued as pope following his resignation, withPope Francis ruling as a hereticalantipope.[48][49] SinceBenedict's death, some Benevacantists now hold to sedevacantism, while others considered Francis to be the Pope untilFrancis' death in 2025.[50] 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".[51][52]
TheSociety of St. Pius X, founded by ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre in 1970 as a "pious union" with the permission ofFrançois Charrière, the sittingBishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg inSwitzerland, 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.[53][54] 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 theVatican City, but to "resist" anything they claim is contrary to Catholic tradition; thus, as part of thetraditionalist 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.[55][14]
In the aftermath of the canonical visitation to theInternational Seminary of Saint Pius X in 1974, which led to the Vatican's withdrawal of the SSPX's "pious union" status, individual sedevacantists were tolerated and Archbishop Lefebvre stated to CardinalGiovanni Benelli in 1976 after hissuspension a divinis, "The post-Concillar Church is a schismatic Church, since it has broken with the Catholic Church that has always been", without explicitly saying that Paul VI was not the Pope.[55]
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