“This is July 16, 1990,” says a recognizably midwestern voice, as the camera focuses on a thin, dour young man in clerical clothes sitting in front of an altar, “and habemus papem. We have a pope.” So begins Pope Michael, a weird, intriguing, and distressing documentary about a young man in a small town in rural eastern Kansas who, after being elected by six people, a group that included his parents and himself, claimed to be the Bishop of Rome.
The director plays it straight, telling the story of a man, his mother, and his two followers who are as he depicts them good, kind, likeable people. But that makes their story even more distressing, because the man’s claim to be the pope is just . . . just crackers. What must it be like to go through life thinking you’re the pope?
Here is the original short documentary. There is another one I’ve seen but can’t track down explaining the election.
February 28th, 2012 | 8:00 am
That area around in the Midwest is a hot bed of traditional and radical Catholicism. Right near Belvue (where “Pope Michael” lives) is St. Marys, where the SSPX runs a school and college. That school was kicked out of the Kansas schools’ athletic league because SSPX wouldn’t allow a female referee at a basketball game.
Just down the road 10 or so miles is Maple Hill where the FSSP set up after the split with SSPX (FSSP has their Nebraska seminary two hours away). Meanwhile, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is big in Kansas City.
On a side note: While Michael claims to have been made a bishop recently by an “Old Catholic” bishop he still won’t say who it was.
February 28th, 2012 | 8:04 am
He is also tampering with clerical law (no dogma as yet though) by allowing his clergy to marry. http://vaticaninexile.com/?p=531
February 28th, 2012 | 8:52 am
I just read Joshua Genig’s Obama: Pastor-in-Chief, where he asserts that “… Mr. Obama has unilaterally assumed the role of Pastor-in-Chief of the United States of America.” Obama doing so would be even more laughable than Pope Michael’s claim to spiritual authority if it weren’t so dangerous.
February 28th, 2012 | 9:46 am
I didn’t put that quite right. I agree with Joshua Genig that Obama has, in effect, assumed the role of Pastor-in-Chief of the United States of America. This would be more laughable — funnier — than Pope Michael’s claiming spiritual authority for himself, if it weren’t so dangerous.
February 28th, 2012 | 11:08 am
I think I’ve heard of three or four guys who think they are the pope over the years. It must be quite a burden to have that kind of responsibility and have no one else recognize it.
By the way, the Institute of Christ the King, mentioned above, is indeed on the traditional side of Catholicism, but it is an institute in good standing with the Catholic Church. It’s not fair to lump them in with schismatics and loonies – they do some wonderful things and are very faithful.
February 28th, 2012 | 2:36 pm
I wonder if “Pope Michael” and his family really believe he is a pope, in which case they are spritually deluded, or are they putting on an act to con people.
February 28th, 2012 | 6:25 pm
[...] David Mills at First Things posted links today to films about Pope Michael, a Kansas farm boy who lives with his Mama, name of Tickie, and thinks he is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. After being booted out of an SSPX Traditionalist Catholic seminary, he and five followers, including his parents, decided to hold a conclave in 1990, in a thrift store, and boom, Pope Michael. (Half the electors have since left and formed a splinter sect.) After doing a 10-minute short, the filmmakers later made a 74-minute full-length documentary about this guy and his followers (website here). It’s strange and fascinating; you can watch it here: [...]
February 28th, 2012 | 11:46 pm
What? Slow news night? Glad to see you are commenting on something from 22 years ago.
February 29th, 2012 | 9:44 am
William: What, nothing useful to say? The documentary came out just last year and a lot of readers who’d be interested in seeing it wouldn’t know about it.
March 1st, 2012 | 1:36 pm
By the way, it’s “habemus papAm,” (with an ‘a’, not an ‘e’).
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