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Father Lucian Pulvermacher, OFM Cap (April 20, 1918 – January 11, 2006) was elected Pope Pius XIII of the true Catholic Church in 1998. The "true Catholic Church" is a small sect based in Montana, which claims to be the "true" Catholic Church, as against all other groups or entities claiming that name. Pulvermacher technically could be considered an antipope by other denominations, although he has far fewer followers than the historical antipopes.
Early life and early ministry
Earl Pulvermacher was born in 1918. He entered the Capuchin Order in 1942 (where he was given a religious name of Lucian) and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1946. After an initial period as a priest in Milwaukee he served as a missionary priest in Amami Oshima and later Okinawa. From 1970 to 1976 he served as a missionary in Australia. Having rejected the Novus Ordo religion coming from Vatican II, he then left Australia in 1976 and associated with some traditionalist Catholic organizations that had opposed Vatican II.
Post Vatican II
After leaving Australia, Fr. Lucian was affiliated for a short time with the Society of Saint Pius X. His brother, Fr. Carl Pulvermacher, joined the Society of Saint Pius X shortly after Fr. Lucian left them and remains affiliated to this day. After leaving the Society, Fr. Lucian established a circuit of missionary visits to traditional Catholics throughout the United States.
1990s
After his departure from the Novus Ordo circa 1976, Fr. Lucian held that Pope John XXIII had been a Freemason, and thus his election as pope in 1958 had been invalid, and that all of John XXIII's acts, such as the calling of Vatican II were also invalid. Fr. Lucian holds that the successors of John XXIII, namely Paul VI, John Paul I and II and currently Benedict XVI, also are non-popes as they followed in the footsteps of John XXIII with their adherence to the false Novus Ordo religion of Vatican II. Thus, the See of Peter was vacant from the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 until October 24, 1998, with the conclave which elected him as the Vicar of Christ.
In 1998, the remmant Catholic Church, both lay and clerical, held a conclave using a telephone vote along with elaborate security and authentication methods. At the Conclave of 1998, Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher was elected as the 262nd pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name Pius XIII. The new pope then established his College of Cardinals to provide an ecclesiastical mechanism for the election of his successors.
Though he had adherents, his support was mainly limited to only about 100 families worldwide, most of which are in the United States. Only 28 attended his episcopal ordination in Montana, about a year after his election to the papacy.
+ Gordon Cardinal Bateman
+ Gordon Cardinal Bateman was a married Australian layman who belonged to Pius XIII's circle of friends. Pius XIII raised Bateman to the priesthood and then to the episcopacy. Thereafter, Bateman consecrated Pope Pius XIII to the episcopacy. As a result, Bateman's marriage broke up, and Bateman blaims Pope Pius XIII for this, not considering any other possible reasons for the breakup. The mutual consecrations of Pius XIII and Cardinal Bateman were done using the plenary powers of the papacy. Such consecrations were justified using the precedent set in Church history, where Pope Pius XII during his reign in the 1950s sent priests into a Communist country where some 150 to 250 Catholic priests and a number of bishops were ordained clandestinely during 40 years of Communist rule under special powers granted by Pope Pius XII. (Ref: National Catholic Reporter, February 25, 2000).
Subsequently, Bateman fell away from Pulvermacher after he discovered a curious fact: That Fr. Lucian had practiced "divining" with a pendulum. Pulvermacher does not deny this, but on the contrary has defended this as a God-given natural science.
Bateman's relatives, at the present, have been attempting to bring the various Sedevacantist factions together into unity under "Pope Michael" (the aforementioned David Bawden). This is the "St. Gabriel's Group" (see ]). Bateman's whereabouts and activities from the time he left Pope Pius XIII in 2001 remain a mystery.
Family
Pulvermacher's family consisted of mother and father and 9 children, the 4 Pulvermacher brothers all became Capuchin priests. His mother, who died in 1999, and one of his still-living sisters were the only members of his family who remained in the Catholic Church and recognized him as the true pope. His only living brother, Fr. Carl Pulvermacher, in failing health, remains in the Society of St. Pius X which holds Benedict XVI to be the pope.
Reports of Death
The internet has been spreading reports that Pope Pius XIII died on January 11, 2006. Such reports are false, as Pope Pius XIII is presently known to be alive and well and living in the USA.
See also
- Sedevacantism for a more general discussion of this particular post-Vatican II phenomenon
- David Bawden, Clemente Dominguez y Gomez and Manuel Corral for other primary Sedevacantist claimants to the Papacy
- Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI
External links
- A letter from "Pope Pius XIII" (from Catholic Answers)
- Official website
- The Vatican-In-Exile
- Michaelinum: The Catholic Restoration Site