Antipopes

DEFENSE

The “unbroken line” claim may be found in the writings of individual Catholics, but it is difficult to find it in any official Church documents. Nevertheless, it expresses a truth: There is a line of popes (bishops of Rome) that we can trace in historical succession, going back to Peter.

The statement that it is unbroken must be understood in the sense that those who make the claim intend, otherwise a straw man will result. This means recognizing certain obvious facts, such as the vacancies that occur between the death or resignation of one pope and the election of another.

Similar vacancies are found in offices around the world, including lines of kings, presidents, premiers, and others. Temporary vacancies occur all the time, yet the offices in question still exist. An American thus might speak of an unbroken line of presidents going back to George Washington, though there have been periods between the death of one president and the swearing in of another.

Consequently, the only way to “break” a line would be for the office itself to be abolished—not just be unfilled for a time. For example, if the U.S. Constitution were amended to abolish the office of president and then, at a later date, it was amended again to reintroduce it, there would be a break in the line of U.S. presidents.

Similarly, the only way for the line of popes to be broken in this sense would be for the office of bishop of Rome to be abolished and then reintroduced at a later date. That has never happened, so it is meaningful to speak of an unbroken line of popes going back to Peter.

Neither does the existence of antipopes break the line. An antipope is a person who falsely claims to be the pope. They are the ecclesiastical equivalents of royal pretenders—people who falsely claim a royal office or title. (A presidential pretender would be the same thing in an American context.)

The existence of pretenders—whether to the papacy, a line of kings, or any other office—doesn’t mean there is no legitimate occupant of the office or that the office has been abolished and the line broken.