David Bawden

David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022), who took the name Pope Michael, was an American conclavist claimant to the papacy. Bawden believed that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the Catholic faith after the Second Vatican Council and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. In 1990, he was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents. In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an Independent Catholic bishop.

Early life and education

David Allen Bawden was born on September 22, 1959, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Clara ( Barton) and Kennett Bawden. He attended elementary school and high school in Oklahoma City. In the mid-1970s, he and his family became followers of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Bawden entered the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, in 1977, then transferred to Saint Joseph's Priory in Armada, Michigan, because of difficulties learning French. He was dismissed in 1978, "without cause" according to Bawden; His family subsequently moved to St. Marys, Kansas, where the SSPX ran Saint Mary's Academy and College. Bawden worked for the school and his brother attended it. In 1981, Bawden broke with the SSPX. Bawden had invited hundreds of Independent Catholic bishops and sedevacantists to the election, but none attended. Since he was not ordained at the time of his election, he was unable to celebrate Mass or confect the sacraments as a priest. He hoped that some bishop in the Soviet Union or China "behind the Iron and Bamboo curtains" and unaware of Vatican II, might one day hear of him and ordain him.

After the election, Bawden continued living at home with his parents. Bawden established a presence on the internet as an alternative claimant to the papacy; in 2009, he stated that he had approximately 30 "solid followers". He maintained a website for his papacy called Vatican in Exile, In 2010, the independent filmmaker Adam Fairholm released a feature-length documentary about him, Pope Michael.

Bawden announced that he had been ordained a priest and then consecrated a bishop on December 11, 2011, by an Independent Catholic episcopus vagans, Bishop Robert Biarnesen of the Duarte-Costa and Old Catholic episcopal lineages, who himself had been consecrated a bishop only a month prior. Bawden then considered himself able to celebrate the Mass and the sacraments of confession and Holy Orders. Bawden died on August 2, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri. At the time of his death, he had been serving as the president of the Neighborhood Improvement Association of Oakland, Kansas, and was a member of the Citizen Advisory Council. His obituary simply called him "Father David" and made no reference to his papal claims.

In July 2023, Filipino-born Rogelio del Rosario Martinez claimed to have been elected as Bawden's successor and took the name Pope Michael II.