David Bawden
| David Bawden | |
|---|---|
| Pope Michael | |
| Papacy began | July 16, 1990 |
| Opposed to |
John Paul II Benedict XVI Francis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 September 1959 |
| Nationality | American |
David Allen Bawden (born September 22, 1959 in Oklahoma City), who takes the name Pope Michael, is an American citizen and a conclavist claimant to the papacy. He stated in 2009 that he had approximately 30 "solid" followers.
Bawden was elected by a group of six laypeople, which included himself and his parents, who had come to believe that the Catholic Church had seceded from the Catholic faith since Vatican II, and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.
In 1975, Bawden and his family began to follow the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Bawden attended the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, and Saint Joseph's Priory, Armada, Michigan, but was dismissed from the seminary in 1978.
Bawden claims to have been elected to the papacy in 1990, in a papal conclave attended by five other people, including his parents.
Bawden believes that all the popes since the death of Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1958, are modernists, heretics, and apostates, and that, therefore, their elections are invalid. He considers them to have incurred latae sententiae, or automatic excommunication, for violating Pope Pius X's laws.
In 2010, independent filmmaker Adam Fairholm created a feature-length documentary.
Bawden was the subject in a chapter of the 2004 book What's the Matter with Kansas? by American journalist and historian Thomas Frank.
At some point during 2012, Bawden claims he was ordained a priest, and then consecrated a bishop, by an episcopi vagantes, and thus claims to be a validly ordained priest and consecrated bishop and able to validly celebrate Catholic sacraments, offer the Mass, ordain other men to the priesthood and consecrate them as bishops.
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