Antipope

Background

The Korean term daerip gyohwang is a translation of the English word antipope. When two or more people claim the office of Bishop of Rome (the pope) at the same time, the term refers to the claimant whom the Catholic Church later judged to be illegitimate. Which claimant was legitimate was usually settled not at the time but afterward.

The circumstances that produced antipopes varied from era to era. In the period of the early church, the main cause was disagreement over doctrine and church discipline (correction and governance within the church). In the Middle Ages, the main causes were conflicts between imperial or royal power and papal power, as well as divisions within the College of Cardinals.

History

Antiquity

• Hippolytus: A Roman theologian of the early third century. He is known to have opposed Pope Callixtus I's approach to church discipline and to have led a separate community, and he is commonly regarded as the first antipope. Around 235 he was exiled together with Pope Pontian, and he is said to have been reconciled during that exile.
• Novatian: He was set up in opposition to Cornelius in 251. The point of dispute was whether those who had renounced the faith during the persecution under Emperor Decius should be readmitted to the church. Novatian took the stricter position, and his followers, the Novatianists, persisted for several centuries afterward.

The Middle Ages

• The Investiture Controversy: Investiture refers to the authority to appoint bishops. Pope Gregory VII and the German king Henry IV clashed over this authority, and in 1080 Henry IV's party set up Archbishop Guibert of Ravenna as Clement III.
• The Western Schism (1378–1417): After Urban VI was elected in 1378, some cardinals declared the election invalid and separately elected Clement VII, who established himself at Avignon. In 1409 the Council of Pisa deposed both popes and elected Alexander V, but because the two existing popes refused to step down, there were now three claimants to the papacy. The schism ended when the Council of Constance (1414–1418) elected Martin V in 1417.
• Felix V: He was set up by the Council of Basel in 1439 and resigned in 1449. He is commonly regarded as the last antipope.

Consequences and Influence

The Western Schism greatly diminished papal authority. Because the schism was resolved by a council, conciliarism, the view that a general council holds authority superior to that of the pope, gained strength. In the same period, John Wycliffe in England and Jan Hus in Bohemia criticized the papacy. Hus was condemned at the Council of Constance in 1415 and burned at the stake. These developments are frequently cited as background to the later Reformation.

John XXIII of the Pisan line is not recognized as a legitimate pope in the Catholic Church's official list. For this reason, the pope elected in 1958 was able to take the same name, John XXIII. In modern times, some small groups have also set up their own "popes," but their influence has been minimal.

Assessment

• The Catholic Church identifies antipopes on the basis of the list of popes in the Annuario Pontificio (the Pontifical Yearbook). Regarding the Western Schism, it today regards the Roman line as legitimate. It nevertheless acknowledges that the legitimacy of certain figures is difficult to determine, and the number of antipopes varies by list and by scholar, from just over thirty to nearly forty.
• The Eastern Orthodox Church has not recognized papal primacy (supreme authority over the whole church) since the East–West Schism. It therefore regards the question of antipopes as an internal matter of the Roman church.
• Protestantism likewise does not recognize papal primacy and so uses "antipope" chiefly as a historical term. Protestant accounts of church history often treat the Western Schism and the conciliar movement as part of a broader current of calls for church reform that preceded the Reformation.