And Then There Were Three

Today, June 26, in 1409 the Western Schism got 100% worse.

The reason? The Church now had 300% of the requisitie number of popes.

Now, in truth, it only had one real pope–ever. But there were at this time two additional "popes," or antipopes as they would be properly called, also running (or strolling or sitting) around Europe causing havoc.

On June 26, 1409 the second antipope, Alexander V, was "elected" by the Council of Pisa. (Not an ecumenical council.)

He wouldn’t last long.

Ten months later, he’d be dead, though he did have a successor.

Ultimately the Western Schism was sorted out in 1417, when the Council of Constance deposed the two antipopes, accepted the resignation of the true pope, and elected a new true pope, the way for one thus being cleared. The result being Pope Martin V.

Though the Western Schism was over, the damage it did to the fabric of Western Christendom was horrendous. The experience of having two–and then three–popes vying for power left severe questions in the minds of many folks, and the perception of the Church was gravely weakened.

This is thought by many historians to have been one of the reasons leading to the Protestant Reformation.

I’d love to give you a link where you could spit on the grave of Alexander V, but I don’t have one, so you’ll have to settle for

LEARNING MORE ABOUT HIM.

AND ABOUT THE SCHISM ITSELF.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

3 thoughts on “And Then There Were Three”

  1. We could set up a virtual “spit on the grave of Alexander V”, much like the site some years back that allowed your to shoot Barney the Dinosaur

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