David Bawden

David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022),<ref name="obituary">Template:Cite web</ref> who took the name Pope Michael, was an American conclavist. Bawden believed that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church had apostatized from the true Catholic faith following the Second Vatican Council. He argued that, by signing the Vatican II documents, the bishops had effectively founded a new church—referred to by him as the "Conciliar Church"—which retained the external structures and buildings of the Catholic Church but introduced different theology and rites.<ref name="whatwebelieve">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rites">Template:Cite web</ref>

Bawden wrote:

"The Conciliar Church ... retained the external properties of the Catholic Church, but changed its doctrine, sacraments, and purpose."<ref name="whatwebelieve" />

According to Bawden, all popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 were not legitimate Catholic popes, but rather leaders of this new Conciliar Church. In 1990 he was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents. In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an Independent Catholic bishop.

Early life and education

Bawden was born in 1959 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Clara (Template:Nee Barton) and Kennett Bawden.<ref name="obituary"/><ref name="Seba 1990">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Henning 2009">Template:Cite news</ref> He attended elementary school and high school in Oklahoma City.<ref name="Seba 1990"/> He had one brother.<ref name="Henning 2009"/>

Bawden's parents were traditionalist Catholics who rejected Vatican II.<ref name="Brisendine">Template:Cite news</ref> In the mid-1970s, he and his family became followers of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).<ref name="Melton 1994">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="oral history">Template:Cite AV media</ref> Bawden entered the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, in 1977, then transferred to Saint Joseph's Priory in Armada, Michigan. He was dismissed in 1978.<ref name="Brisendine"/><ref name="oral history"/> His family subsequently moved to St. Marys, Kansas, where the SSPX ran Saint Mary's Academy and College. Bawden worked for the school and his brother attended it.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1981 Bawden broke with the SSPX.<ref name="Melton 1994"/> Prior to claiming the papacy, he worked as a real estate agent and furniture maker.<ref name="Fruhling 1990"/>

Claim to the papacy

Template:See also Bawden believed that all the popes since the death of Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1958, were manifest modernists, heretics, and/or apostates before election. Hence, their elections were invalid for a true Catholic pope.<ref name=Frank>Template:Cite book</ref> However, he maintained that figures such as John Paul II and his successors were not claimants to the Catholic papacy at all, but rather heads of what he called the "Conciliar Church," which occupied the buildings and external institutions of the Catholic Church while promoting a different faith.<ref name="whatwebelieve" /> Bawden did not view himself as a rival or antipapal claimant in the traditional sense, but rather as the sole legitimate pope after a vacancy in the See of Peter. He criticized traditionalist Catholic groups such as the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and other "recognize-and-resist" factions for acknowledging the Vatican II popes while refusing obedience to them. He argued that such groups lacked consistency in their theological reasoning and ecclesiastical practice. Furthermore, he maintained that sedevacantists clergy lacked jurisdiction, since they had not received appointment from any legitimate Catholic authority. Consequently, Bawden regarded their activities as incompatible with Catholic ecclesiology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On July 16, 1990, Bawden, his parents, and three other laypeople held a papal conclave at the Bawden family's thrift store in Belvue, Kansas.<ref name="Melton 1994"/><ref name="Henning 2009"/> Bawden, then aged 30, was elected pope.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ca">Template:Cite web</ref> One of the electors, Teresa Stanfill Benns of Denver, co-authored a book with Bawden entitled Will the Catholic Church Surivive the Twentieth Century? (1990).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bawden subsequently took the name "Michael" after Saint Michael the Archangel.<ref name="Fruhling 1990">Template:Cite news</ref> Bawden had invited hundreds of Independent Catholic bishops and sedevacantists to the election, but none attended.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As Bawden was not ordained until 2011, he was unable to celebrate Mass or confect the sacraments as a priest.<ref name="Brisendine"/>

Later years and death

After the election, Bawden continued living at home with his parents.<ref name="Henning 2009"/> In 1993, they relocated to Delia, Kansas.<ref name="Melton 1994"/> His father died in 1995.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007, Theresa Benns and 2 other members of the conclave accused him of heresy and started a petition to have him abandon his claim to the papacy. <ref> Template:Cite web </ref> Bawden established a presence on the internet as an alternative claimant to the papacy;<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> in 2009 he stated that he had approximately 30 "solid followers".<ref name="documentary">Template:Cite AV media</ref> He supported himself through donations and by republishing out-of-print religious literature.<ref name="oral history"/> In 2010, the independent filmmaker Adam Fairholm released a feature-length documentary about him, Pope Michael.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Bawden announced that he had been ordained a priest and then consecrated a bishop on December 11, 2011, by an Independent Catholic episcopus vagans, Bishop Robert Biarnesen of the Duarte-Costa and Old Catholic episcopal lineages.<ref>https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-other-american-popes-claimants-sedevantism-leo-xiv</ref> <ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bawden said that he was able to validly celebrate Catholic sacraments, offer the Mass, ordain other men to the priesthood, and consecrate them as bishops, since he believed that the Duarte-Costa and Old Catholic lineages were recognized as valid by the Catholic Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In a 2022 interview released posthumously, Bawden said that his church had grown to more than 100 members.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>

On July 10, 2022, his church's Twitter account posted that Bawden had to have emergency surgery and was in a coma.<ref name="sick">Template:Cite tweet </ref> Bawden died on August 2, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri.<ref name="obituary"/><ref name="died">Template:Cite tweet</ref>

On July 29, 2023, some of his followers elected Rogelio Martinez, a bishop from the Philippines, as his successor. He took the name Michael II.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Further reading

• "Pope Michael", article by Magnus Lundberg for the World Religions and Spirituality Project
• Template:YouTube
• Pope Michael Interview with Pontifacts Podcast

External links

• https://www.vie-official.org Official website
• https://www.vaticaninexile.com historical website (now run by sedevacantists, not associated with David Bawden's successor Rogelio del Rosario Martinez