Antipope

Antipope Felix V, the last historical Antipope.

An antipope is one who, in opposition to the generally recognized Pope, makes a widely accepted claim to be the lawful Pope. The many who, today perhaps even more than in the past, claim to be Pope, but have few, if any, followers, are not generally classified as antipopes in the strict sense. See, especially, Sedevacantist antipope.

In several cases, it is hard to tell which was in fact the lawful Pope and which the antipope. In its list of the Popes, the Holy See's annual directory, Annuario Pontificio, attaches to the name of Pope Leo VIII (963-965) the following note: "At this point, as again in the mid-eleventh century, we come across elections in which problems of harmonizing historical criteria and those of theology and canon law make it impossible to decide clearly which side possessed the legitimacy whose factual existence guarantees the unbroken lawful succession of the Successors of Saint Peter. The uncertainty that in some cases results has made it advisable to abandon the assignation of successive numbers in the list of the Popes." In all those cases, it is, however, clear that, whichever was the Pope, the other was an antipope, since the claim of each was in fact widely accepted.

History

The earliest antipope, Hippolytus, was elected in protest against Pope Callixtus I by a schismatic group in the city of Rome in the 3rd century. Hippolytus was exiled to the mines on the island of Sardinia in the company of Callixtus' successor Pope Pontian, was reconciled to the Catholic Church before his death, and has been canonized by the Church. The Catholic Encyclopedia also mentions a Natalius[1], before Hippolytus, as first antipope, who, according to Eusebius's EH5.28.8-12, quoting the Little Labyrinth of Hippolytus, after being "scourged all night by the holy angels", covered in ash, dressed in sackcloth, and "after some difficulty", tearfully submitted to Pope Zephyrinus.

The period when antipopes were most numerous was during the struggles between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors of the 11th and 12th centuries. The emperors frequently imposed their own nominees, in order to further their cause. (The popes, likewise, sometimes sponsored rival imperial claimants in Germany in order to overcome a particular emperor.)

The Great Western Schism, which, on the grounds of the allegedly invalid election of Pope Urban VI, began in 1378 with the election of Clement VII, who took up residence in Avignon, France, led to two, and eventually three, rival lines of claimants to papacy: the Roman line, the Avignon line, and the Pisan line. The last-mentioned line was named after the town of Pisa, Italy, where the council that elected Alexander V as a third claimant was held. To end the schism, the Council of Constance deposed, in May 1415, John XXIII of the Pisan line, whose claim to legitimacy was based on a council's choice, Pope Gregory XII of the Roman line resigned in July 1415, and the Council formally deposed Benedict XIII of the Avignon line, who refused to resign, in July 1417, after which Pope Martin V was elected and was accepted everywhere except in the small and rapidly diminishing area that remained faithful to Benedict XIII.

The scandal of multiple claimants added to the demands for reform that produced the Protestant Reformation at the turn of the 16th century.

List of antipopes

#St. Hippolytus (reconciled with Pope St. Pontian and died as martyr of the Church), 217–235#Novatian, 251–258#Felix II (confused with a martyr of the same name and thus considered an authentic pope until recently), 355–365#Ursicinus (Ursinus), 366–367 #Eulalius, 418–419#Laurentius, 498–499, 501–506#Dioscorus (perhaps legitimate, died 22 days after election, opposed to Boniface II), 530#Theodore (II) (opposed to Conon), 687#Paschal (I) (opposed to Conon), 687#Theofylact, 757#Constantine II, 767–768#Philip (succeeded antipope Constantine II, but returned to his monastery on the very day of his election), 768#John VIII, 844#Anastasius III Bibliothecarius, 855#Christopher, 903–904#Boniface VII, 974, 984–985#John Filagatto (John XVI), 997–998#Gregory VI, 1012#Sylvester III, 1045#John Mincius (Benedict X), 1058–1059#Pietro Cadalus (Honorius II), 1061–1064#Guibert of Ravenna (Clement III), 1080, 1084–1100#Theodoric, 1100–1101#Adalbert, 1101#Maginulf (Sylvester IV), 1105–1111#Maurice Burdanus (Gregory VIII), 1118–1121#Thebaldus Buccapecuc (Celestine II) 1124#Pietro Pierleoni (Anacletus II), 1130–1138#Gregorio Conti (Victor IV), 1138#Ottavio di Montecelio (Victor IV), 1159–1164#Guido di Crema (Paschal III), 1164–1168#Giovanni of Struma (Callixtus III), 1168–1178#Lanzo of Sezza (Innocent III), 1179–1180#Pietro Rainalducci (Nicholas V), 1328–1330#Robert of Geneva (Clement VII), Pope of the Avignon line, 20 September 1378 – 16 September 1394#Pedro de Luna (Benedict XIII), Pope of the Avignon line, 1394–1423#Pietro Philarghi Alexander V, Pope of the Pisan line, 1409–1410#Baldassare Cosa John XXIII, Pope of the Pisan line, 1410–1415#Gil Sánchez Muñoz (Clement VIII), Pope of the Avignon line, 1423–1429#Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy (Felix V), 5 November 1439 – 7 April 1449

See also

* Antipopes in fiction
* Sedevacantist antipope
* List of popes

Sources and references

*Catholic Encyclopaedia- article Antipope
*The Pope Encyclopaedia - article Antipope