David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022), who took the name Pope Michael, was an American citizen and a

conclavist A conclavist was a personal aide of a cardinal present in a papal conclave. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-cardinals. Conclavists pl ...

claimant to the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. In 1990 Bawden was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents, who had come to believe that the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

had apostatized from the Catholic faith since

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

, and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

in 1958. In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an

Independent Catholic Independent Catholicism is an independent sacramental movement of clergy and laity who self-identify as Catholic (most often as Old Catholic or as Independent Catholic) and form "micro-churches claiming apostolic succession and valid sacramen ...

bishop.

Early life and education

Bawden was born in 1959 in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, Oklahoma, to Clara ( Barton) and Kennett Bawden. He attended elementary school and high school in Oklahoma City. He had one brother. Bawden's parents were

traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ...

who rejected

. In the mid-1970s, he and his family became followers of the

Society of St. Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the Seco ...

(SSPX). Bawden entered the SSPX seminary in

Écône Écône is an area in the municipality of Riddes, district of Martigny, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the location of the International Seminary of Saint Pius X The International Seminary of Saint Pius X in Écône, Valais, Switz ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, in 1977, then transferred to Saint Joseph's Priory in Armada, Michigan. He was dismissed in 1978. His family subsequently moved to

St. Marys, Kansas St. Marys is a city in Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee counties in the U.S. state of Kansas in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,759. It is home of Saint Mary's Academy and College. History St. Marys wa ...

, where the SSPX ran

Saint Mary's Academy and College Saint Mary's Academy and College is a religious school of the Society of St. Pius X located in St. Marys, Kansas. The original St. Mary's College The original college at this location, St. Mary's College, was founded by the Jesuits in 1848 ...

. Bawden worked for the school and his brother attended it. In 1981 Bawden broke with the SSPX. Prior to claiming the papacy, he worked as a real estate agent and furniture maker.

Claim to the papacy

Bawden believed that all the popes since the death of

on October 9, 1958, were modernists, heretics, and

apostates Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...

, and that their elections were

invalid Invalid may refer to: * Patient, a sick person * one who is confined to home or bed because of illness, disability or injury (sometimes considered a politically incorrect term) * .invalid, a top-level Internet domain not intended for real use As ...

. He considered them to have incurred ''

latae sententiae (Latin meaning "of a/the sentence lreadypassed") and (Latin meaning "sentence to be passed") are ways sentences are imposed in the Catholic Church in its canon law. A penalty is a penalty that is inflicted , automatically, by force of the ...

'' (automatic)

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

for violating not only

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

's laws on modernism but also the

divine law Divine law is any body of law that is perceived as deriving from a transcendent source, such as the will of God or godsin contrast to man-made law or to secular law. According to Angelos Chaniotis and Rudolph F. Peters, divine laws are typicall ...

s. On July 16, 1990, Bawden, his parents, and three other former adherents of the SSPX held a

papal conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. ...

at the Bawden family's thrift store in

Belvue, Kansas Belvue is a city in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 177. History Belvue was laid out in 1871. The first post office in Belvue was established in May 1871. Geography Belvue i ...

. Bawden, then aged 30, was elected pope. He styled himself "Michael I" after

Saint Michael the Archangel Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), a ...

. Bawden had invited hundreds of

bishops and

sedevacantists Sedevacantism ( la, Sedevacantismus) is a doctrinal position within traditionalist Catholicism, which holds that the present occupier of the Holy See is not a Validity and liceity (Catholic Church), valid pope due to the pope's espousal of one o ...

to the election, but none attended. As Bawden was not

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

until 2011, he was unable to celebrate

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

or confect the

sacraments A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the rea ...

as a priest.

Later years and death

After the election, Bawden continued living at home with his parents. In 1993 they relocated to

Delia, Kansas Delia is a city in Jackson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 151. History Delia was laid out and platted in 1905. Its founder, David Cunningham, named the town in honor of his mother, Delia ...

. His father died in 1995. Bawden established a presence on the internet as an alternative claimant to the papacy; in 2009 he stated that he had approximately 30 "solid followers". He supported himself through donations and by republishing out-of-print religious literature. In 2010, the independent filmmaker Adam Fairholm released a feature-length documentary about him, ''Pope Michael''. Bawden announced that he had been ordained a priest and then consecrated a bishop on December 11, 2011, by an

episcopus vagans In Christianity, an ''episcopus vagans'' (plural ''episcopi vagantes''; Latin for 'wandering bishops' or 'stray bishops') is a person consecrated, in a "clandestine or irregular way", as a bishop outside the structures and canon law of the estab ...

'', Bishop Robert Biarnesen of the Duarte-Costa and

Old Catholic The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches or Old Catholic movement designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the Great Chu ...

episcopal lineages. Bawden said that he was able to validly confect Catholic sacraments, offer the

, 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. Rogelio Martinez, a Filipino archbishop in the

Catholic Charismatic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, united himself with Bawden in 2020. In a 2022 interview released posthumously, Bawden said that his church had grown to more than 100 members. On July 10, 2022, his church's Twitter account posted that Bawden had to have emergency surgery and was in a coma. Bawden died on August 2, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri.

References

External links

Official website
Media appearances: *
Pope Michael Interview with Pontifacts Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bawden, David 1959 births 2022 deaths 20th-century antipopes 21st-century antipopes Clergy from Oklahoma City Founders of new religious movements People from Jackson County, Kansas Antipopes People expelled from the Society of St. Pius X American traditionalist Catholics Sedevacantists History of Catholicism in the United States