Sedevacantism

Sedevacantism is the doctrinal conviction that the papal throne — the "seat" of Saint Peter — is currently vacant, because the men who have occupied it since the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978 are not legitimate pontiffs. This belief, whose name derives from the Latin phrase sede vacante ("with the seat being vacant"), forms the theological foundation of the Palmarian Church, the ultraconservative Catholic sect that provides the ideological and institutional framework for the assassination of Edmond Kirsch. In the novel, sedevacantism is not merely a historical footnote but the active, organizing principle of a secretive organization that regards the mainstream Vatican as apostate and itself as the sole legitimate guardian of the true faith, a conviction that licenses its members to wage war against the forces of modernism and atheism.

Definition and Core Belief

The Palmarian Church, headquartered at the Mount of Christ the King compound in El Palmar de Troya, Spain, was founded after local residents claimed to have witnessed visions of the Virgin Mary, who warned that the Catholic Church was rife with the "heresy of modernism" and that the true faith needed to be protected. The central tenet of sedevacantism — that the Vatican's pope is not the valid pontiff — was embraced by the Palmarians as the justification for establishing an alternative church. They declared the popes in Rome to be false popes, and proclaimed their own founder, Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, as the true pope, taking the name Pope Gregory XVII. This conviction that Saint Peter's "seat" was literally "vacant" allowed the Palmarians to reject the authority of the Second Vatican Council and all subsequent liberalizing reforms emanating from Rome, positioning themselves as the defenders of a pure, pre-conciliar Catholicism.

Institutional Structure and Ideology

The Palmarian Church, though not recognized by the Vatican, amassed thousands of followers and vast wealth, enabling it to construct a fortress-like cathedral and consecrate hundreds of its own bishops worldwide. Its ideology fused ultraconservative Catholicism with a militaristic, Francoist political vision. The church canonized Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler as saints, and its members were bound by a strict code of prohibitions: they were forbidden from reading books authored by non-Palmarians, attending family weddings or funerals unless the families were also Palmarians, and visiting pools, beaches, boxing matches, dance halls, or any location displaying a Christmas tree or image of Santa Claus. The Palmarian pope, Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, who lost both eyeballs in a car accident and continued to preach for a decade with his eyes sewn shut, was said to have active stigmata on both palms that regularly bled during visions. This fusion of extreme traditionalism, authoritarianism, and charismatic leadership created a closed, cult-like environment that the novel portrays as the breeding ground for a conspiracy of murder.

Role in the Assassination Conspiracy

Sedevacantism, as practiced by the Palmarians, provides the theological justification for the assassination of Edmond Kirsch. Admiral Luis Ávila, the killer, is a devoted member of the Palmarian Church, having been recruited by a physical therapist named Marco who lost his leg in the same terrorist attack that killed Ávila's family. The Palmarian pope, Innocent XIV, preaches a doctrine that rejects forgiveness as the only path to salvation, declaring that "evil is evil" and that "when we forgive evil in the world, we are giving evil permission to grow and spread." This ideology transforms Ávila's personal trauma and rage into a righteous crusade. The Regent, the shadowy figure who orchestrates the assassination, tells Ávila that his mission is a "task sent to you by God" and that "God is at war, and wars entail casualties." The sedevacantist conviction that the mainstream Church has gone astray and that the Palmarians are the true soldiers of Christ thus licenses extrajudicial violence against those perceived as enemies of God, including the atheist futurist Edmond Kirsch.

Consequences and Narrative Significance

The Palmarian Church's involvement in the assassination has devastating consequences for the sect itself. Once the conspiracy is exposed, the global media spotlight shines harshly on the Palmarians, and a former Palmarian pope, Gregorio XVIII, confesses that the church was "a sham from the beginning" and was founded "as a tax-evasion scheme." The scandal is portrayed as a potential deathblow for the controversial church. More broadly, sedevacantism functions in the novel as a case study of how religious extremism, when combined with a belief in the illegitimacy of mainstream institutions, can produce a closed, self-justifying system capable of violence. The Palmarians' conviction that they alone possess the truth, and that all other expressions of faith are heretical, mirrors the absolutism that Edmond Kirsch's scientific presentation seeks to challenge. The novel thus uses sedevacantism not only as a plot device but as a concrete example of the "dark religions" that, in William Blake's prophecy, must depart so that "sweet science" can reign.