Rivals Claimants To The Papacy
They shall not partake of holy things, until a high priest shall arise for evidence and truth. —Offertory for the Mass for the Election of a Pope.
The Election of Pope Michael was followed by two other elections:
- In 1994, following principally the instigation of one Mrs. Elizabeth Gerstner, who had served in a secretarial capacity in the Vatican, during the reign of Pope Pius XII, an Assembly was summoned to elect a Pope, and meeting at Assisi, elected Fr. Viktor von Pentz, a South African of aristocratic German descent. Von Pentz took for himself the name Pope Linus II.
Byzantine Catholic Community, 9 Cygnet Court, Stort Road, Bishops Stortford, Hertsfordshire, England. CM23 3EG. Dr. Mrs. Elizabeth Gerstner, Isle of Wight, England; Fr. Dominic; Tel: 0279 50 44 20; Fax: 0279 50 44 08.
- In 1998, Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher (born Earl Pulvermacher) contrived a phone-in election that predictably elected him, October 24, 1998, and took the name Pope Pius XIII. However, his chief aide, Gordon Bateman later discovered Pulvermacher was an occultist, and therefore excommunicated, and so ineligible for election as Pope.
Regarding these latter elections attempts, the following principles must be borne in mind:
- There can be only one lawful pope at a time. To even implicitly seem to believe, such as by one's actions, that there can be two legitimate popes at the same time, incurs for one the tag of "Suspect of heresy".
- When a group comes forward to elect or supply the Pope, they must first present their reason to the public, for their belief that there is no lawful pope, and that the existing claimants are invalid.
If no such public statement is released prior to the attempted election, the organizers, participants, etc, of these attempts demonstrate themselves "suspect of heresy", in that they possibly believe that there can be two or more legitimate popes at the same time.
Since neither the Gerstner Assembly nor the Pulvermacher election issued the necessary public statement prior to their attempts, they incur the Suspicion of Heresy, as above.
Mystical Claimants
Besides the Election of Pope Michael, and the two subsequent attempts, there have been a number (approximately 20 or so) of claims by persons to have been made pope by private apparition.
Such claims are strictly excluded by Catholicism. A man cannot be made pope solely on the basis of a claimed apparition. This is because such an apparition would be part of Private Revelation, if approved, and Private Revelation cannot be universally binding on all souls, as being necessary for their salvation. Yet, in order to credit that a man was made Pope in an particular Private Revelation, all mankind would be obliged to credit that particular Private Revelation on a universal level, thus adding it to Public Revelation. However, Public Revelation is closed and sealed since the death of the last Apostle, St. John, and cannot be added to, subtracted from or amended.
Therefore, the so-called "Mystical Claimants" are ruled out as heretics.
Many "Traditionalists" mindlessly put their hope in a "Mystical" appointment of a Pope in order to end the Vacancy. This is a recipe for sure disaster.
One prominent proponent of the "Mysticalist" heresy is Robert F. Hess (http://roberthess.homestead.com), who pretends that the Church is incapable of supplying itself with the Pope, and that only a "Mystical" restoration can supply.
Lúcio Mascarenhas
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