David Bawden

Who is David Bawden?

David Allen Bawden, who takes the name "Pope Michael", is an American citizen and a conclavist claimant to the papacy. He stated in 2009 that he had approximately 30 "solid" followers.

Bawden was elected by a group of six laypeople, which included himself and his parents, who had come to believe that the post-Vatican 2 "Catholic" Church had seceded from the Catholic faith, and that there had been no legitimate Popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.