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Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The Other American ‘Popes'
WHEN WHITE SMOKE DRIFTED over the Sistine Chapel and the name Leo XIV was announced earlier this month, billions of Catholics and non-Catholics alike around the world raced to learn more about the new pontiff. Born Robert Francis Prevost and raised in Chicago, he is the first American to ascend to the papacy. He is a product of an American Catholic family and an alumnus of American Catholic institutions, having graduated from Villanova and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago before joining the Order of St. Augustine and spending years in missionary service in Peru. As news of his election spread, so did Chicago-themed memes and other displays of hometown pride. A small number of Americans, though, believe we've already had an American pope. Unrecognized by the Vatican and distant from mainstream Roman Catholicism, a handful of would-be pontiffs have made claims to the throne of St. Peter, enjoying support from internet users, eliciting the curiosity of many who came across them, and attracting followings—dedicated if not large. Few of these figures ever set foot in a seminary, let alone rose through the clerical ranks; you won't find them in cathedrals or basilicas. Their holy haunts are garages, rental halls, and the occasional roadside chapel. And while they can be found at the very edge of the religious fringe, these figures personify the continuing challenges to papal authority presented by and within our postmodern age. The main thing that unites this diverse bunch of papal claimants is their shared rejection of Vatican II. Convened between 1962 and 1965, the Second Vatican Council was a landmark effort by the Roman Catholic Church to engage more directly with the modern world. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, the council introduced sweeping reforms: It permitted the Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin, emphasized ecumenical dialogue with Orthodox and Protestant communities, redefined the Church's relationship with non-Christian religions (especially Judaism), and shifted the Church's tone from one of hierarchical authority to one of pastoral outreach. For many, these changes felt like an enlivening wind, in keeping with Pope John's (possibly apocryphal) call to 'open the windows of the Church' and let some fresh air into it. Chief among the council's champions was Pope John Paul II, who had attended Vatican II as a young bishop and later embodied its spirit through global outreach, interfaith dialogue, and a renewed emphasis on human dignity. He also helped modernize the papacy itself, embracing television, global travel, and media interviews to bring the Church's message to a wider, contemporary audience. Keep up with all The Bulwark's articles, newsletters, podcasts, and livestreams—and pick which ones show up in your inbox: But while some Catholics found Vatican II exhilarating, for others, it was deeply disorienting. Many Catholics felt alienated by the rapid changes, whether because they preferred the Latin Mass or were uncomfortable with various other reforms. This sense of upheaval gave rise to movements like the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970, which flatly rejected key aspects of Vatican II and has maintained an uneasy relationship with Rome ever since while undergoing continuous institutional and communal growth. Even among conservative Catholics who don't go as far as SSPX, Vatican II remains a point of deep concern and contention, and it remains an abiding preoccupation among hyperonline Catholic commentators. The resurgence of young Catholic women wearing veils, the renewed popularity of the Latin Mass, and the proliferation of apologists defending every conceivable Church teaching all point to a growing skepticism toward, or at least a re-evaluation of, Vatican II's more open ethos. There are also those so radical as to not only reject the council but also to deny the legitimacy of the popes who have upheld it. These are the sedevacantists—those who believe 'the seat'—sedes, referring to the papal throne—is 'vacant,' which is to say, the one who currently occupies it is illegitimate. Sedevacantists hold that this has been the case since the 1958 death of Pope Pius XII on the grounds that all officially recognized popes since Vatican II have embraced its alleged heresies. In the words of Philippe Roy-Lysencourt, a scholar of Catholic traditionalism, 'For these movements, the council is like a foreign body in the life of the Church, like a cancer to be fought.' While its community of adherents is small and fragmented, sedevacantism represents the furthest extreme of traditionalist dissent—after all, who else would answer 'no' to the question, 'Is the Pope Catholic?' And way out at the furthest reaches of the sedevacantist world, we find a handful of those who, unwilling to wait for a legitimate pope to emerge, have taken matters into their own hands. These are the people who have conducted their own conclaves in living rooms and hotel conference rooms, and who claim to have found St. Peter's true successor living in their own hometowns. Share THE STORY OF OUR COUNTRY'S original homegrown papal claimant must be regarded as a prelude, because his actions took place decades before the Second Vatican Council that would unite the later generation of faux popes in opposition to it. Adam Anthony Oraczewski, a Polish-born immigrant, declared himself 'Pope Adam II' in 1927 following several years of religious mischief, fraud, and forgery, much of his behavior likely resulting from undiagnosed mental illness. At one point, he circulated a photo to newspapers that depicted him in an approximation of papal garb; a reporter at one of the papers pointed out that the young would-be pontiff had left his tennis shoes on for the picture. It would be half a century before the first of the Vatican II–rejecting American-born papal claimants would emerge. Chester Olszewski was originally an Episcopal priest in Pennsylvania. After encountering Anne Poore, a visionary claiming miraculous experiences and stigmata, Olszewski embraced a radical traditionalist Catholicism. He would eventually claim to receive his own mystical visions, and in 1977, he proclaimed himself Pope 'Chriszekiel Elias,' later adopting the name 'Peter II.' He led a small sect calling itself the True Catholic Church, rooted in apocalyptic Marian devotion; it has since faded into obscurity. A little over two decades later, in 1998, Lucian Pulvermacher, a former Capuchin friar from Wisconsin, was elected pope by a roughly fifty-member conclave of sedevacantist lay people associated with the True Catholic Church network. Taking the name 'Pius XIII,' he operated his ministry and issued papal decrees from a trailer in Kalispell, Montana, and later from Springdale, Washington. He died on November 30, 2009, at the age of 91. His followers' plans to convene a new conclave to choose a successor have so far come to naught. Another: Citing inspiration via mystical revelation, Reinaldus M. Benjamins of Malone, New York, claimed to be 'Pope Gregory XIX.' But as 'alternative popes' researcher Magnus Lundberg writes, little is known of Benjamins today. But the best-known American claimant to the papacy is the late David Bawden, known to many by his chosen papal name of 'Pope Michael I.' Born in Oklahoma in 1959 and raised in a fiercely traditionalist Catholic household, David Bawden came of age believing that the Second Vatican Council was not a reform but a rupture, one that cut the institutional Church off from its own timeless teachings and liturgical beauty. His family refused to attend the post-conciliar Mass, clung to pre-1958 catechisms, and eventually aligned with the dissenting SSPX. Bawden enrolled in an SSPX seminary but was dismissed after a brief tenure, prompting him to pursue his theological education on his own—through books, correspondence with traditionalist and sedevacantist Catholics, and fervent prayer. By the mid-1980s, he had moved on from the SSPX to embrace outright sedevacantism. Join now Convinced that the Catholic Church was in a state of emergency, Bawden took a radical step. In 1990, at the age of 30, he gathered five others (including his parents) into a makeshift conclave in a Kansas thrift store chapel. They elected him pope by unanimous vote. He took the name 'Michael I' and claimed divine sanction to restore what Rome had lost. From a farmhouse-turned-chapel in Delia, Kansas, he spent the next three decades issuing papal decrees, publishing newsletters, and maintaining a website called 'Vatican in Exile.' Toward the end of his life, he had a channel on YouTube, a platform on which his sermons, theological discussions, interviews, and explanations of his papal claim have been watched by thousands. While many dismissed him as a crank, a curiosity, a theological prank, or a person disturbed in the manner of his predecessor Oraczewski, Bawden's sincerity was difficult to deny. As documented in the 2010 film Pope Michael, he lived with monastic simplicity, took no salary, and led a quiet life of devotion alongside his elderly mother, Tickie. He prayed daily for the Church, answered emails from curious seekers, and carried out his self-imposed papal duties with unwavering conviction. In 2011, after more than two decades without the ability to celebrate the sacraments (despite claiming to be pope), Bawden was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by Robert Biarnesen, an independent bishop from a schismatic Old Catholic lineage (he himself had only just been consecrated a month prior by Bishop Alexander Swift Eagle Justice). Because Bawden had never been ordained by a bishop, valid or otherwise, prior to this, he had taken himself to be unable to perform even the most basic sacramental duties of the priesthood, let alone exercise the full authority of his alternative papacy. Beginning in 2011, though, Bawden at last felt authorized to celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and ordain others, a possibility that he seized with his first (and possibly only) seminarian, Phil Friedl. His movement remained minuscule, with perhaps a few dozen core followers, but the internet gave Pope Michael surprising reach, drawing adherents from as far away as India and the Philippines. One of those, a Filipino bishop named Rogelio Martínez, became his right-hand man and, after Bawden's death in 2022, Martínez was elected by his predecessor's remaining followers to become 'Pope Michael II.' He still posts to the movement's YouTube channel, but viewership remains scarce. Share LEO XIV'S PAPACY HAS NOW BEGUN. The Chicagoan begins his tenure at a time when papal authority is contested. Pope Francis, pastoral reformer that he was, was a figure of great controversy among both liberals and conservatives in the Church, and especially among hyperonline traditionalists, for whom he represented a corruption of the office. For years, such figures accused him of sowing confusion, undermining tradition, and embracing a modernist agenda. Some of his critics began to flirt openly with sedevacantist ideas, creating a cultural commotion in the Church. So it is that in our digital present, when YouTube apologists, livestreamed liturgies, and anonymous Twitter accounts shape the Catholic imagination, the claims of figures like Bawden no longer feel quite so radical or strange. This is part of what Leo XIV has inherited from Francis: a Church that is struggling, along with every other societal institution, to find its way in an increasingly chaotic information environment—a virtual world in which, it seems, everyone gets to be their very own pope. Zap this article over to a friend or zip it up onto social media: Share
Epoch Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
Raphael's Portraits of Pope Leo X
When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope on May 8, 2025, he chose the papal name of Leo XIV. In the long line of Leos as head of the papacy, Pope Leo X is the most famous in terms of art history. Pope Leo X is the central figure in one of Renaissance artist Raphael's greatest portraits, that of Leo X with Cardinals Luigi de' Rossi and Giulio de' Medici. He also features in the artist's famous frescoed rooms at the Apostolic Palace; these rooms are now part of the Vatican Museums. Leo X's Papacy Pope Leo X (1475–1521) was born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici. A member of the illustrious Medici family, a banking dynasty that ruled Florence, he grew up in a milieu that valued the arts. His father, known by the sobriquet Lorenzo the Magnificent, was one of the great patrons of the Renaissance. He was a benefactor of Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo, amongst other giants. From Giovanni's youth, Lorenzo intended for him to have a career in the church. He was appointed cardinal in 1489, when he was just 13 years old. In 1513, at the age of 37, he was elected pope.
LeMonde
20-05-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
Betting on the war in Gaza, the new pope or Eurovision: The cynical business of online predictive markets
May 8, 2025. As white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of a new pope, some are rubbing their hands in delight. Online, thousands had bet on who would succeed Pope Francis, with $40 million wagered in total. Many lost, but some pocketed up to $60,000 for correctly predicting the winner, Robert Francis Prevost, now Leo XIV. This somewhat cynical business is that of Kalshi and Polymarket. Both American start-ups, these rivals share the same ambition: to surpass sports betting and allow people to bet on world affairs, from presidential elections to the outcome of a war, court decisions and the severity of a natural disaster. To achieve this, they use a unique method: instead of setting odds like traditional bookmakers, their teams monitor current events and community proposals to launch new markets, taking a commission on each dollar bet. In April 2025 alone, nearly 7,000 markets were opened on Polymarket. Among the most popular were, of course, the new pope, but also the probability of Israel launching a new major military operation in Gaza, the number of posts by Elon Musk on X, the Eurovision winner and the winner of the presidential election in Romania (nearly $200 million in bets).
Malay Mail
18-05-2025
- General
- Malay Mail
Pope Leo XIV: Mild-mannered American with global view
VATICAN CITY, May 19 — With 10 days under his belt as pope, Leo XIV has already shown himself to be a mild yet focused bridge-builder, with a soft spot for the underdog and a passion for tennis. On May 8, Robert Francis Prevost made history as the first pope from the United States but his experience goes well beyond his Chicago roots. The 69-year-old pontiff saw the challenges facing the worldwide Catholic Church up close in two decades as a missionary in the poor Andean nation of Peru, where he holds dual citizenship. And he already has a keen grasp of the inner workings of the Vatican, thanks to two years in a powerful role within the Roman Curia. With his calls this week for peace and in railing against inequality and social injustice, Pope Leo has drawn parallels with his reforming predecessor, Pope Francis, who died April 21. But the quiet, understated American has already signalled a change in style with the charismatic and impulsive Argentine. Vatican watchers are predicting his less confrontational tone may help him make inroads with those who may disagree with him—inside and outside the Church. Playing priest Prevost was born on September 14, 1955, in a working-class, predominantly Catholic neighbourhood of Chicago to parents of French, Italian and Spanish descent. From an early age, the future Leo played priest, buying candy discs to use as communion wafers and passing them out to other neighbourhood children, according to his older brother, Louis. He recalled telling his six-year-old brother, 'You're gonna be the pope.' Prevost attended a minor Augustinian seminary in St Louis as a novice, going onto take a mathematics degree from Philadelphia's Villanova University, an Augustinian institution. In 1985, he joined the Augustinians in Peru for the first of two long missions in the country that came to strongly mark his character, according to those who know him. An early sign of his global outlook came when he spoke Spanish from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica just minutes after being elected pope. Locals in the northern Chiclayo diocese in Peru, where he was appointed apostolic administrator in 2014, have since described him as a calm and humble person, who would visit soup kitchens and don tall rubber boots to muck out homes during downpours. He also had a big appetite for the local dish of chicharron, fried pork belly or chicken, and ceviche, or marinated raw fish. A long-time fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team, Leo is keen on tennis, describing himself as 'quite the amateur tennis player'. An early perk of the job came this week when he met with world men's number one Jannik Sinner, who gave him a raquet and suggested a quick rally in the sumptuous setting. 'We'd better leave it,' joked Leo. 'Can't turn back' The new pope also knows his way around the Vatican. In 2023, he was appointed by Francis to lead the Dicastery for Bishops, a key Vatican department that advises the pontiff on appointments, and later that year was made a cardinal. Fellow prelates describe him as a pragmatic consensus builder, with a softer style than Francis but the same commitment to Catholics from the 'peripheries'—overlooked areas far from Rome—and a strong sense of social justice. His awareness of global Church challenges was honed by two consecutive terms as the global head of the Augustinians, a mendicant order keenly focused on missionary work and charity. He also has a masters in divinity from Chicago's Catholic Theological Union in 1982, and a doctorate in canon law in Rome—a grounding seen as reassuring to more conservative cardinals who have sought a greater focus on theology from the pope. After Francis's 12-year papacy, which was marked by reforms but also divisions within the Church, the then Cardinal Prevost said there was 'still so much to do'. 'We can't stop, we can't turn back,' he told Vatican News last month. 'We have to see how the Holy Spirit wants the Church to be today and tomorrow, because today's world, in which the Church lives, is not the same as the world of ten or 20 years ago. 'The message is always the same: proclaim Jesus Christ, proclaim the Gospel, but the way to reach today's people, young people, the poor, politicians, is different,' he said. — AFP
News.com.au
18-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Pope Leo XIV warns against exploitation at inaugural mass
Pope Leo XIV set the tone for his papacy on Sunday with a call to stop exploiting nature and marginalising the poor at a mass attended by world dignitaries including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance. Ten days after Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost became the first US head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, an estimated 200,000 people gathered to see his inaugural mass in St Peter's Square. The 69-year-old made his debut tour in a popemobile, smiling, waving energetically and blessing the cheering crowds at the Vatican. In front of leaders including Zelensky and Vance, he then gave a homily where he called for the Church to be a transformational force in a world of division and hatred. "In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth's resources and marginalises the poorest," he said. Prevost, who was made a cardinal only in 2023 and is unknown to many Catholics, has repeatedly emphasised the importance of peace and social justice in his first few days as pope. Later on Sunday, he was due to hold his first private audience with Zelensky. "The martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen," Leo said during a prayer at the end of the ceremony. Yona Tukuser, a 39-year-old artist from Odessa in Ukraine who was amongst the crowd in St Peter's Square, said Leo was "a pope for peace" who would "work very hard to build a bridge for dialogue". - First US pope - Leo has made history as the first pontiff from the United States, and his home country was represented on Sunday by Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic. Vance -- the last world leader to meet with the late Pope Francis the day before he died last month -- queued up to shake Leo's hand along with the other dignitaries. He did not have a private audience scheduled for Sunday but this could still happen as he is not due to return to Washington until Monday. Maria Grazia La Barbera, 56, a pilgrim from Palermo in Sicily, said Leo was "the right person at the right time" to lead the Church. "He will certainly do what he promised: knocking down walls and building bridges," she said. Before becoming pope, Leo reposted on his personal X account criticism of US President Donald Trump's administration over its approach to migration and also pilloried Vance. On Sunday, the pope -- who spent many years as a missionary in Peru -- warned against "closing ourselves off in our small groups". "We are called to offer God's love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people," he said. Leo's elevation has sparked huge enthusiasm in the United States, but also some consternation elsewhere that a country with an already outsize political and military role in the world now boasts one its foremost spiritual leaders. "There is going to be extra weight because he is American, I think there's going to be a lot of extra eyes, and maybe criticisms," said Sophia Tripp, a 20-year-old student visiting from Leo's hometown of Chicago. But she said she hoped he would "bring people together", adding: "We are all human, and we should just all be loving to one another." Other guests on Sunday included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. President Dina Boluarte of Peru -- where the pope holds citizenship -- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Colombia's President Gustavo Petro also attended, as did a host of faith leaders and European royals. Italian authorities deployed thousands of security officers for the event, alongside snipers on rooftops and anti-drone operations. - 'Fear and trembling' - Leo XIV was elected as the 267th pope on May 8 after a conclave vote of cardinals that lasted less than 24 hours. Succeeding the charismatic but impulsive Francis, he took over a Church still battling the fallout of the clerical child abuse scandal, and trying to adapt to the modern world. Leo acknowledged on Sunday some trepidation in his new role. "I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy," he said. Ahead of the mass, Leo visited the tomb of Saint Peter -- who in the Christian tradition was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and the first pope -- in the basilica that bears his name. He then received the pontifical emblems -- the pallium, a strip of cloth worn around the neck, and the fisherman's ring, which is forged anew for each pope and which he will wear on his finger until he dies, when it will be destroyed.
