You learn something new every day

[scarlettina]

An LJ friend, this morning, introduced me a to a new concept: sedevacantism. Sedevacantists believe that the papacy has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 (or, in some cases, the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963). Sedevacantists believe that the subsequent successors (or, in their view, claimants) to the papal office have been neither true Catholics nor true, legitimate popes. Tell that to John Paul II and those who either want to canonize him or want to add the epithet "the Great" to his title. The Wikipedia entry I linked to above goes into the history of this position. Fascinating stuff.

Comments

[varina8.livejournal.com]

It's living in, well, the early 1900s for all intents and purposes.

More like the 1600s, or earlier. I think of them as kissing cousins to the extremists in the Protestant fundamentalist movement. If you don't know much about Vatican II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council#The_bishops), it's easy to see the group's beliefs as a simple rebellion against the English Mass, but they're a great deal darker than just an embrace of the Latin Mass.

[botgrrrl.livejournal.com]

That's true. To Vatican II, Mass in the vernacular was just a side show to some of the other things going on.