Antipope, in the Roman Catholic church, one who opposes the legitimately elected bishop of Rome, endeavours to secure the papal throne, and to some degree succeeds materially in the attempt. This abstract definition is necessarily broad and does not reckon with the complexity of individual cases. The elections of several antipopes are greatly obscured by incomplete or biased records, and at times even their contemporaries could not decide who was the true pope. It is impossible, therefore, to establish an absolutely definitive list of antipopes, but it is generally conceded that there were at least 37 from 217 to 1439. Felix V (1439–49) was the last. Historically, antipopes have arisen as a result of a variety of causes; the following are some examples:

  1. Doctrinal disagreement. The spread of Monarchianism (a Trinitarian heresy) led a Roman priest, Hippolytus, to try to replace Pope Calixtus I in the 3rd century. Hippolytus was later reconciled to Pope Pontianus during the persecution of Maximinus and died a martyr’s death (235).

  2. Deportation of the pope. The Arian emperor Constantius II exiled Pope Liberius for his orthodoxy (355) and imposed the archdeacon Felix on the Roman clergy as Pope Felix II. Eventually, Liberius was allowed to return, and Felix lived in retirement until his death.

  3. Double elections arbitrated by the secular authority. In 418 the archdeacon Eulalius was elected by a faction partial to him, and he was supported by the imperial prefect and the Byzantine court. The rest of the clergy, however, chose the priest Boniface I, who was eventually given official recognition by the emperor.

  4. Double elections and subsequent recourse to a third candidate. In the 7th century Paschal and Theodore were rivals for the papacy, and both were unwilling to renounce their claims. Finally, a part of the community more inclined to moderation gained the papacy for Sergius I.

Somewhat similarly, in the 14th century the official residence of the papacy was moved to Avignon, France. This led to a schism (the Great Western Schism) beginning in 1378 that resulted in a papacy in Rome (regarded as canonical), a papacy in Avignon (regarded as antipapal), and eventually a third papacy established by the Council of Pisa (also regarded as antipapal). Unity was finally achieved by the election of Martin V on Nov. 11, 1417.

  1. Change in the manner of choosing the pope. In 1059 a new procedure for electing popes, proclaimed by Pope Nicholas II, deprived the German emperors of the leading role that they had played in earlier papal elections and also limited the influence of the Roman nobility. This led to the election of the antipope Honorius II in opposition to the canonically elected Alexander II, who was eventually recognized by the emperor.

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