Antipope

An antipope is a person who makes a widely accepted claim to be the lawful Pope, in opposition to the Pope recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Antipopes are typically those supported by a fairly significant faction of cardinals. Persons who claim to be the Pope but have few followers, such as the modern Sedevacantist antipopes, are not generally counted as antipopes, and therefore are ignored for regnal numbering.

In several cases it is hard to tell which was, in fact, the lawful Pope and which was the antipope.

Antipope Felix V, the last historically significant 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 cases it is clear that whichever was the Pope, the other was an antipope, since the claim of each was widely accepted.

History

Hippolytus (d. 235) is commonly recognized as the earliest antipope, as he protested against Pope Callixtus I and headed a separate group within the Roman Church. Hippolytus was later reconciled to Callixtus's second successor Pope Pontian, when both were condemned to the mines on the island of Sardinia. He has been canonized by the Church. Whether two or more persons have been confused in this account of Hippolytus, and whether Hippolytus actually declared himself to be the Bishop of Rome, remains unclear, especially since no such claim is found in the writings attributed to him.

The Catholic Encyclopedia also mentions a Natalius, 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. As proof of the angels' actual intervention, Natalius displayed the wounds they had left on his back.

Novatian (d. 258), another third-century figure, certainly claimed the See of Rome in opposition to Pope Cornelius, and is thus reckoned as the first unequivocal antipope.

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. The Council formally deposed Benedict XIII of the Avignon line, who refused to resign, in July 1417. Afterwards, 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 the Great Schism created anti-papal sentiment and fed into the Protestant Reformation at the turn of the 16th century.

List of historical antipopes

Antipope	Original name	Dates	Notes	In opposition to:
Natalius		around 200	later reconciled (see above)	Pope Zephyrinus
Hippolytus		217–235	later reconciled with Pope Pontian (see above)	Pope Callixtus I
				Pope Urban I
				Pope Pontian
Novatian		251–258	founder of Novatianism	Pope Cornelius
				Pope Lucius I
				Pope Stephen I
				Pope Sixtus II
Felix II		355–365	installed by Roman Emperor Constantius II	Pope Liberius
Ursicinus	Ursinus	366–367		Pope Damasus
Eulalius		418–419		Pope Boniface I
Laurentius		498–499 501–506	supported by Byzantine emperor Anastasius I	Pope Symmachus
Dioscorus		530		Pope Boniface II
Theodore (II)		687		Pope Sergius I
Paschal (I)		687		Pope Sergius I
Constantine II		767–768		Pope Stephen III
Philip		768	installed by envoy of Lombard King Desiderius
John VIII		844	elected by acclamation	Pope Sergius II
Anastasius III Bibliothecarius		855		Pope Benedict III
Christopher		903–904		between Pope Leo V and Pope Sergius III
Boniface VII		974		between Pope Benedict VI and Pope Benedict VII
		984–985		between Pope John XIV and Pope John XV
John XVI	John Filagatto	997–998	supported by Byzantine emperor Basil II	Pope Gregory V
Gregory VI		1012		Pope Benedict VIII
Benedict X	John Mincius	1058–1059	supported by the Counts of Tusculum	Pope Nicholas II
Honorius II	Pietro Cadalus	1061–1064	supported by Agnes, regent of the Holy Roman Empire	Pope Alexander II
Clement III	Guibert of Ravenna	1080, 1084–1100	supported by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor	Pope Gregory VII
				Pope Victor III
				Pope Urban II
				Pope Paschal II
Theodoric		1100–1101	successor to Clement III	Pope Paschal II
Adalbert or Albert		1101	successor to Theodoric
Sylvester IV	Maginulf	1105–1111	supported by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Gregory VIII	Maurice Burdanus	1118–1121		Pope Gelasius II
				Pope Callixtus II
Celestine II	Thebaldus Buccapecus	1124		Pope Honorius II
Anacletus II	Pietro Pierleoni	1130–1138		Pope Innocent II
Victor IV	Gregorio Conti	1138	successor to Anacletus II
Victor IV	Ottavio di Montecelio	1159–1164	supported by Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor	Pope Alexander III
Paschal III	Guido di Crema	1164–1168
Callixtus III	Giovanni of Struma	1168–1178
Innocent III	Lanzo of Sezza	1179–1180
Nicholas V	Pietro Rainalducci	1328–1330	supported by Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor	Pope John XXII
Clement VII	Robert of Geneva	1378–1394	Avignon	Pope Urban VI
				Pope Boniface IX
Benedict XIII	Pedro de Luna	1394–1423	Avignon
				Pope Innocent VII
				Pope Gregory XII
				Pope Martin V
Alexander V	Pietro Philarghi	1409–1410	Pisa	Pope Gregory XII
John XXIII	Baldassare Cossa	1410–1415	Pisa
Clement VIII	Gil Sánchez Muñoz	1423–1429	Avignon	Pope Martin V
Benedict XIV	Bernard Garnier	1424–1429	Avignon
Benedict XIV	Jean Carrier	1430–1437	Avignon
				Pope Eugene IV
Felix V	Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy	5 November 1439 – 7 April 1449	elected by the Council of Basel
				Pope Nicholas V

The list of Popes and Antipopes in the Annuario Pontificio does not include Natalius (perhaps because of the uncertainty of the evidence) nor Antipope Clement VIII. It may be that the following of the latter was considered insufficiently significant, like that of "Benedict XIV," who is mentioned along with him in the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope Martin V.

As for Sylvester III, sometimes listed as an Antipope, the Holy See's Annuario Pontificio classifies him as a Pope, not an Antipope. In line with its above-quoted remark on the obscurities about the canon law of the time and the historical facts, especially in the mid-eleventh century (see the second paragraph of this article), it makes no judgement on the legitimacy of his takeover of the position of Pope in 1045. The Catholic Encyclopedia places him in its List of Popes, though with the annotation: "Considered by some to be an antipope."

Current claimants

Whilst all modern claimants to the Papacy are technically antipopes none of them have received wide enough recognition, as defined earlier in this article, to be considered true antipopes. Therefore these "antipopes" are listed in the article Modern antipope.

See also

Antipope Portal

• Antipopes in fiction
• Sedevacantist antipope
• List of popes

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Catholic Encyclopaedia, Antipope - Retrieved September 23, 2007.
• The Pope Encyclopaedia, Antipope - Retrieved September 23, 2007.
• Kelly, J.N.D, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. New York : Oxford University Press. June 1, 1986, ISBN 0-19-213964-9

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