“What is an anti-pope, and does having an anti-pope or anti-popes mean we are in a sedevacantist period?”
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I’m putting this page up because I’ve been accused of being a Sedevacantist while making some observations on who could be an ‘anti-pope’, which I am not. (LOL!)
How I could be accused of being a Sedevacantist is a bit puzzling, so I am going to start with what I have observed with the prophecies, as it seems this accusation started there.
I pointed out that the credible and approved prophecies on this site declare we will have anti-popes before and / or during the chastisements, but that the prophecies DO NOT foretell modern day Sedevacantism as is currently understood, I.e. having a long line ‘invalid popes’ since Vatican II. This understanding of ‘Sedevacatism’ is a serious error that goes against canon law and Church doctrine that there will never be a break in the line of the succession of Peter.
Also, this brings up the point that all the successors to the See of Peter are infallible when making doctrinal pronouncements on faith or morals ‘ex cathedra’ – a doctrine we are required to believe since the Vatican I council which has formally declared a pope cannot formally teach a heresy – so to make the Sedevacantist claim all Vatican II popes are ‘invalid’ means 1) you are making a claim you have no authority to make 2) you do not believe in the doctrine of infallibility and are in serious danger of schism / heresy. The Orthodox not in union in Rome are not only in schism now but also heretics as they reject the infallibility of the pope. Spirago and Clarke confirm this.
To get back to the point of ‘anti-popes’ - apparently, this accuser claims I believe Pope Francis continues to be anti-pope now that Pope Benedict has passed away, which is not true. I never said Pope Francis is an anti-pope since Pope Benedict has passed. Only that the prophecies indicated he might be one while Pope Benedict was alive.
I am very well aware that Pope Francis is now a valid pope as there is no other contender for the throne of Peter and he is recognized by the Universal Catholic Church to be the pope – even if he might prove to be a bad one.
*** Obviously, people do not know what an anti-pope actually is if they could make an accusation like and mix it up with the issue of Sedevacantism, so let me try and make an attempt to clear this up, according to my layperson’s understanding.
An anti pope or anti-popes means one or more contenders exist for the Papal throne and who attempt to make a claim for it when there is an elected pope already sitting.
That’s all an anti-pope is.
An anti-pope may not be a heretic or an ‘evil doer’ at all!
An ‘anti-pope’ is simply someone who claims they have a legit right to the chair of Peter when there is a ruling pope will try and make a claim. An anti-pope may even rule for a time despite not having a valid claim. It’s like a bunch of people with royal blood try to show the have a legit claim to a royal throne when there is a ruler already recognized and ruling from said throne. These contenders are not evil or necessarily have to be evil, just perhaps misguided on who has the legit claim to the throne. Same thing can happen with a pope - in fact, the earliest known anti-pope was a saint – St. Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235).
So, when the prophecies state we will have a few anti-popes during the chastisements and wars, it means we may have upheaval and confusion in the hierarchy of the Church, several people will claim to have a right to the throne of Peter, authentic mystics have warned ‘bishops will be against bishops’, so, we may have similar upheavals like what happened in the medieval period when a mess of contenders were vying for the See of Peter with all the different factions supporting who they thought was pope – the Church will be disjointed again by similar upheavals it seems. It does not necessarily mean the men vying for the throne of Peter are evil or heretics!
The prophecies did seem to indicate that while Pope Benedict was alive, he was still the legit pope over Francis, but, yes, once he passed, and the recognition of Francis as pope was not contended but continued, then he in fact became the pope after Benedict’s death. I have never said other wise. I am sorry if people automatically jumped to the wrong conclusions when I was pointing out what the prophecies indicated, but I repeat, I never said after Pope Benedict passed that Pope Francis was not the legitimate pope.
Also, people seem to think having anti-popes means a sedevacantist period is in effect, when it is not - a true sedevacantist period means a completely empty throne or See with no pope and no one sitting on the throne or acting as the universally accepted pope. The throne literally has to be vacant with no visible leader of any kind to have an ‘empty seat’ which is what ‘sedevacante’ means. If there is an anti-pope, or anti-popes, a legitimate pope is still there, so the seat is not ‘vacant’.
Note, we were never promised the line of Peter would be a continuous line of of saints and perfect men, only that the succession to the line of Peter could never be broken as the Church would be built on Peter the ‘Rock’, that Hell shall not prevail against it, and, that the Church would last until the end of time, and, now, we are also required to believe a pope can never formally teach error when teaching ex cathedra.
Also, we have to keep in mind, we do not have the authority to declare who is invalid as pope.
Even St. Peter was called a ‘satan’ by Christ! Yet, was still made the first pope.
We also see that Christ continued to recognize the authority of the High Priest and the very ‘vipers’ putting Him to death and who tried to ‘de-Messiah’ Him by having His death take place on a cross, which was considered the most cursed death before God. Christ recognised the authority of the pagan Pilate because authority was placed on him from above. Christ also recognised the authority given to the hypocritical elders despite their hypocrisy because ‘they sat on Moses’ seat’ (I.e. they had authority given to them from above). But, Christ said, we were not to imitate them in their evil ways and hypocrisy, but, obey them only when what they taught was correct according to God’s law. Even Moses got God angry at times! The great chosen leader and liberator of the Jews forgot something so fundamental as to have his younger son circumcised according to the old law which angered God so much he sent an angel to kill him (yes, kill Moses!), but his wife immediately stepped in and circumcised the child with a stone before it was too late, and she gave out bitterly to her husband, calling him a ‘bloody spouse’ because she had to step in and do such a bloody act in so crude a manner. Yes, Moses could be that much of an idiot at times. That’s like a pope forgetting about the absolute importance of baptism! And, let’s not forget Moses got God angry for not wanting to be the main speaker of His message, so God had to appoint his brother Aaron to speak, and, Moses even doubted God at the rock despite all the miracles already witnessed and struck it twice, and therefore was not permitted to enter the promised land. Yet, despite angering God a few times to this extent, Moses was still the chosen leader and remained so until his death. God even sent the Jews who rebelled against the rule of Moses and Aaron alive down into Hell for their open revolt.
Yes, God gives the authority of rule to sinners.
Also, saints have said a heretical pope can never be elected, but note, the fact the Church had to stress via a doctrinal council as a matter of faith that the pope is infallible, ONLY when declaring a doctrine to the Universal Church on matters of faith or morals, which is called making a ruling EX CATHEDRA, means it was quite possible we were going to have very bad popes that were going to do a lot of harm, it’s happened before, we’ve had very questionable popes in the past like Honorius I sitting on the papal throne, which is why the doctrine of what infallibility a pope actually had to be defined at Vatican I, but the throne was NOT EMPTY despite these bad popes of the past, that’s the point of declaring what papal infallibility is. We are only required to absolutely obey them in matters of doctrinal rulings made “ex cathedra”. Even a bad man elected pope who personally believes in a lot of errors, cannot err in matters when making a doctrinal ruling ex cathedra on morals and faith. He can try and push a lot of errors otherwise, but the faithful have to know when he is ruling ex cathedra.
So, yes, I recognize Pope Francis as pope, but I am not required to follow any bad example or gobbledygook he personally spews against the faith and morals (which if you’ve all noticed happens at times that are NOT ex cathedra as far as I can tell), and I am required to explicitly obey only in ex cathedra matters, and can follow him only when he makes statements or suggestions that are not contrary to faith and are not an encouragement to sin, i.e. if he suggests we pray more for sinners, of course! Sacrifice more if possible? Yes, good advice. Practice the virtues and be charitable to others? Yes, and yes! But worship Pachamama and think it is ‘okay’ to have that happen at the Vatican simply because he attended that? Heck no. Can we correct him when he does things like this? Yes. If he makes personal statements that are wrong, can we point them out? Yes.
In all, when there is one leader accepted as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, he is legit pope - he may not be a great man or leader, and may fail to set a good and holy example, but, he is still pope.
Also, getting bad leaders is also part of the chastisements – Fr. Ripperger notes we get the leaders we need and / or deserve. Doesn’t mean they don’t have authority – we have to put up with them when they are bad leaders and pray God delivers us eventually, which takes penance and reparation.
It’s going to take a lot of suffering, penance and chastisements to be granted the Great Monarch and the Angelic Pontiff.
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