David Bawden
David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022), 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.
Bawden wrote:
"The Conciliar Church ... retained the external properties of the Catholic Church, but changed its doctrine, sacraments, and purpose."
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.
Provided by Wikipedia
