8.113. You sedevacantists can’t even agree on how to elect a new pope. What a joke! Doesn’t that prove your position is false?
This objection misunderstands both the cause of the current crisis and the nature of the Church’s visibility and indefectibility. The Catholic Church teaches that the Church can exist temporarily without a pope, just as she did during extended papal interregnums in Church history. What we are living through now is not “proof against sedevacantism,” but rather a unique and extreme punishment: the eclipse of the Church’s visible structures after Vatican II.
The lack of agreement on how a true pope could be restored does not invalidate the sedevacantist position—it proves the severity of the apostasy and the impossibility of resolving it through normal human means. Only divine intervention will restore a true pope and the visible head of the Mystical Body of Christ. Until then, our duty is not to invent solutions, but to hold fast to the Faith, avoid the false Vatican II sect, and pray, do penance, and wait for God’s mercy.
| Category | Traditional Catholic / Sedevacantist View | Critic's Objection | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Papal Succession | Normally through conclave of valid cardinals or bishops | No pope = no Church | Church history shows interregnums of years, even decades |
| Current Crisis | Unique apostasy with no known cardinals or jurisdiction | Sedevacantists can’t agree, so it must be false | Disagreement on restoration ≠ disagreement on truth |
| Church Visibility | Preserved in the Faithful Remnant, valid priests, sacraments | No pope = no visibility | The Church remains visible through its essential marks and doctrines |
| Restoration of the Papacy | Only God can resolve; human schemes will fail | If you don’t have a plan, you’re illegitimate | Lack of a plan is realism, not proof of falsity |
| False Church (Vatican II) | Must be rejected in its entirety, regardless of consequences | Better to stick with the false pope than have no pope | We cannot accept heresy to maintain appearances |
| Faithfulness | Measured by clinging to the true Faith at all costs | Measured by outward unity and structure | The Church is first and foremost the Mystical Body of Christ, not a bureaucratic institution |
| Fruits | Doctrinal clarity, valid sacraments, holy remnant | Scattered groups = failed position | The early Church was scattered too—but united in the truth |
Summary:
Yes, sedevacantists (true Catholics) do not yet have a pope. But having no pope is far better than falsely recognizing a heretic as pope.
The true Church can exist without a pope—but it cannot exist with a public heretic as pope.
The inability to restore the papacy now is not a weakness in the sedevacantist position—it’s evidence of how deep the apostasy runs. We are not in a “joke” situation—we are in a time of chastisement, and only God can raise up a true pope, perhaps through miraculous intervention or divine providence.
To remain faithful means refusing to follow false shepherds, even if the path becomes narrow, obscure, and lonely. This is the test of our time.
As St. Athanasius once said in the Arian crisis:
“They have the buildings—but we have the Faith.”