I was searching for info about papabiles when I stummbled upon this. I hope that it is not true. It is about Anti-Pope Gregory XVII.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/7170/ibio1.htm

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), January 04, 2004

Answers

There are a lot of nuts in the world. Those who falsely claim to be the Pope are amoung them, as are those who claim to be president, king, emperer, etc.

More info on this particular lost soul is here:
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_Gregory_XVII

In Christ,
Bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 04, 2004.

THERE HAS BEEN 37 ANTI-POPES IN CHURCH'S HISTORY

IN CORDIBUS JESU ET MARIAE

A FRIEND

-- A FRIEND (never@mind.tv), January 05, 2004.

I read the article from the link and at first I was laughing out loud and how crazy the guy seemed. But everytime something like this happens a small part of me wonders what if it's true (all the things he says happened). We have been faced with so many individuals claiming to be a messanger or savior and have grown so skeptical, that I worry about what would happen if Christ did appear or send a messanger. When Christ came no one believed who he was and we look back and say how could they treat him the way they did? We all feel we would have acted different (or at least I think I would) and defended him. How can we make sure something like that would happen again? What would it take to convince us something was real?

-- Kevin O'Neil (oneilk@hotmail.com), January 05, 2004.

There was a lot pointing to Christ being the Messiah, for those who had eyes to see and ears to see. He told us how He would come again to judge the living and the dead. There really is no expectation of His coming again before that time.

How did we know that this particular man is an anti-pope? Because a Pope comes out of the magistarium of the Church, the structure Christ created. The Pope is not self-appointed.

In Christ,
Bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@Hotmail.com), January 05, 2004.

You say "37" anti-popes, Javier "Friend" Noboa?

The old Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01582a.htm) enumerated thirty significant anti-popes up to c. 1913, with the last one coming prior to the Protestant Deformation.

There is at least one very minor anti-pope alive today (calling himself Pius XIII).

-- (The@Scoop.com), January 05, 2004.

Maybe I wasn't clear on my point...

It's more something that I think about when stuff like this comes up. More for discussion than anything else. I was just wondering if everyone else looks at situations like this or others and thinks that we could easily miss something that we are meant to see because we are blinded by skeptisism. Maybe this anti-pope case is not the best example, but it got me thinking. We are so quick to dismiss anything that sounds hokey.

I thought about something similar when it comes to the documentation of miracles. Miracles happen every day, yet the church only recognizes some as real miracles. I'm not try to stir anything up at all, but it's just something I think about every once in a while.

I'm not really looking for an answer or biblical support, rather I'm just curious on what people think.

-- Kevin O'Neil (oneilk@hotmail.com), January 05, 2004.

Kevin,
I think I understand where you are coming from. Often our first response is often skepticism. Maybe that is healthy, maybe not. Not sure. I do know that blind faith is dangerous. But you make some good points.

As for miracles and the Church. Well, the definition of a miracle is something that can't be explained away by scientific study. When the Church approaches a proposed miracle, She tries to find a scientific (or medical) reason for it before pronouncing it probable. Are there miracles the Church doesn't study and so declare but are miracles non-the-less, certainly! There are also false miracles that fall into that category as well.

Take care,
In Christ,
Bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 05, 2004.

Wait...what exactly is an anti-pope?

-- Anti-bush (Comrade_bleh@hotmail.com), January 08, 2004.

An antipope is a false claimant to the position of Pope, usually appointed or elected by an unauthorized body, in opposition to the true Pope elected by the legitimate authority of Christ's Church.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), January 08, 2004.

I worked for a religious organization for a year in 1992. One of the requirements was to take a series of classes - including the History of Christianity.

On a series of pages in this two book set I had to buy for the class was a table that listed the Popes… on a few of them was the mark “***”. At the bottom of the table it stated “*** Anti-Pope.

After a little research I discovered that there were a few Popes that were “voted” in and then later declared as anti-Popes. This would allow a new vote for a new Pope without the death of the old one!

I am going from memory (the class was 11 years ago) – there were a series of French Popes voted in… and those Popes were no longer living in Rome – they would reside in France. This upset the common people in Rome. So when a message went out to announce the new French Pope the common people protested.

They stated that either a new vote should occur or they would start killing. A new Pope was appointed. The two Pope’s each raised an army – (which seemed a little un-pope like to me). So a third vote occurred and a third Pope was elected.

So on the table there were two Popes with *** in a row! It was a very interesting class.

Susan

-- Susan Stevens (sstvsusan@netscape.net), January 17, 2004.

Information on the Antipopes can be found here:
http://en2.wikipedia.or g/wiki/Antipope
http://www.newadven t.org/cathen/01582a.htm

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 18, 2004.

The more you read about this subject, the weirder it gets.

-- jake (j@k.e), January 18, 2004.