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

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

This is the crowd Mel Gibson belongs to, which is why it always used to irritate me when the media would call him a conservative Catholic; I suppose it's technically true, but kind of misleading.

[botgrrrl.livejournal.com]

People get really attached to they way they practice religion, and Vatican 2 changed the way many people practiced the Roman Catholic faith. I've heard tell of people leaving congregations because the hymnal was changed.

This is also not the first time in history when there has been dispute over whether or not the pope is really the pope. There is something "happy tradition" of popes and anti-popes in the Roman Catholic church. At one point, there where three competing Popes.

Most sedevacantists point to the Second Vatican Council (or Vatican II) as the reason for their split. What I find funny, is that Vatican II enacted many of proposals Martin Luther's 1517 letter. You know, the famous one nailed to the church door?

[oldmangrumpus.livejournal.com]

This may or may not be the sect the owners of Hardwick's belong to. They belong to some seriously hardcore traditionalist Catholic group (well, the owners at least)