Is Linus II the Pope?

I began an investigation of the Claim of Victor von Pentz to be the Pope, under the name of Linus the second - Linus II. This was the first 'elected' claimant that I had learnt of, sometime in 1996, and so I had been trying to get in touch with him ever since. In September 2000, I found his address from the Pontifictionology website at Multimania.com, and wrote him a letter. In the meantime, after I began to surf the net in December 1998, I learnt that there were other 'elected' claimants, David Bawden as 'Pope Michael I' 1990 and Lucian Pulvermacher as 'Pope Pius XIII' 1998, and that Bawden's claim was the earliest, von Pentz's claim dating from 1994.

In accordance with Catholic principles, the first legitimate electee is the true pope, and while he lives, unless he abdicates or lapses into heresy, there cannot be another pope.

However, since I knew little at the time about Bawden, and I was given to understand that von Pentz had been elected by a largish councilium, I thought his claim to be the most credible.

I got in touch with all three, Bawden, Victor von Pentz and Pulvermacher, asking them to prove their claim. None of them, except Bawden, provided really satisfactory replies, there being large gaps in the logic of their claims. Bawden, on the contrary, responded with alacrity and sent me his book, "Will the Catholic Church Survive the 20th Century?"

After reading his book carefully, I believe that his election was defective, and so rejected it. My reasons are to be found at The Sad Misadventures of David Bawden and Theresa Benns Subsequently, I concentrated on the claims of Linus II and Pius XIII.

Both the Pentzite and Pulvermacherite Parties have proven frustrating, with neither providing satisfactory answers. The Pentzites have withdrawn into a hermit-like silence, their claimant being famously touted as the 'Hidden Pope.' Hidden claimant or hiding claimant? The latter rather than the former, by my experience.

I have time and again asked and demanded, as is my right, for proofs that von Pentz is the Pope. I have seen none. I have twice given final demands, in May 2001, and in January 2002, and both times have had absolutely no response.

Now all this may seem amusing to the Pentzites, and it may be their idea of entertainment to play cat-and-mouse games with seekers, but it is not Catholicism that they practise.

By Catholic principle, if there is a doubt about a certain person or irregularity in his elevation to office, the burden of proof lies on that person to proof his bonafides.

Refusal to furnish proofs is a tacit repudiation of that claim.

There is no provision in the Catholic Church for an Occult Pope.

It is precisely, I now believe, because the Pentzites have no locus standi and no legitimate basis for their claims that they play hide-'n-seek.

As such, I am finished with the Pentzites. God is witness that I have done my duty towards them and that it is they who have refused to furnish proof of their claims, so that I and every seeker is absolved from their claim.

See here my correspondence with the Pentzites.