Ministry up to the mid-1990s

Born in 1918 near Marshfield, Wisconsin, Earl Pulvermacher was one of nine children of a farm family. His three brothers all became priests. In 1942, at the age of 24, he joined the Capuchin Order, taking the religious name Lucian. He was subsequently ordained to the priesthood on June 5, 1946. At first he was posted to a parish in Milwaukee, but in 1948 he was sent to Japan.^[1] He spent the greater part of his career as a Capuchin (from 1948 to 1970) as a missionary priest in the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. In 1970, he was transferred from Japan to Australia, where he continued his missionary work until his disillusionment with the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965.^[2] In January, 1976 he left the Capuchin Order, and returned to the United States. "I was without money," he later remembered, "without a home or anything. The few things I brought along with me I could carry in two bags." http://www.truecatholic.org/pope/biography.htm He left what he called ?the Novus Ordo, bogus Council Vatican II Church? and spent eight months ?with the general Latin Mass traditionalists until I saw there was no unity. Hence, I am alone on the job here in the States since August 1976.?^[2]

Pulvermacher prided himself on an austere life: ?I have my own residence (really small). Since November the first I have one helper, Miss Theresa Gutenberger, who serves as secretary and cook. Hence, if you call here you can expect (during the working hours) to have her answer the phone."^[2] From August 1976 onwards, Fr. Pulvermacher established and served a circuit of private chapels across the United States, working as an independent traditionalist priest unaffiliated with any formal religious order or society. None of his congregations satisfied him; he judged them all too liberal and modernistic.

The "true Catholic Church" papal election

Until his election, Pulvermacher was a sedevacantist, believing that the Holy See has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. He argues that Pope John XXIII was ineligible, as he supposedly had become a Freemason in 1935, an act punishable by automatic excommunication under canon law. Pulvermacher also maintains that none of John XXIII's successors (Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI) has been true Catholics and that they have all hence been ineligible for the papacy. In contrast to other sedevacantists he argued that the remnant faithful could elect a new legitimate pope, apart from Rome or the college of the cardinals.

Pulvermacher's supporters were few in number and geographically wide-spread. In October 1998, an election was held in a conclave in a wooden house in Montana, where many of Pulvermacher's followers lived. He chose Pius as his pontifical name. His episcopal consecration, held on 4 July, 1999 in a hotel ballroom, was attended by 28 people.

Pulvermarcher had a falling out with one of his supporters, an Australian named Gordon Bateman who was one of Pulvemarcher's cardinals. Bateman says he discovered that Pulvermacher, from his seminarian days, had practiced "divining" with a pendulum, a practice which, although regarded as occult, Pulvermacher defended as beneficial and God-given.^[3] Bateman now contends that "the election was flawed" and is severely critical of Pulvermacher's papal ambitions.^[3]

Family

At least seven of Pulvermacher's eight siblings and their families, as well as more distant relatives, remained in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, including two of his priest-brothers, who were active members of the Capuchin Order. The eighth sibling, Fr. Carl Pulvermacher OFM (Cap), worked as an associate priest (not a member) of the Society of St. Pius X until his death in June 2006.

References

See also

• Sedevacantism for a more general discussion of this phenomenon
• David Bawden and Manuel Corral for other primary conclavist claimants to the Papacy
• Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, whose papal reigns "Pope Pius XIII" claims to be illicit and invalid.

External links

• A letter from "Pope Pius XIII" (from Catholic Answers)
• The Vatican-In-Exile (a conclavist site that opposes Pulvermacher's claims)
• Restoring the Catholic Church
• truecatholic website

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