Annuntio vobis Gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam. Reverdissimum Patrem Lucianum Pulvermacher, OFM Cap., Sanctae Catholicae Ecclesiae Presbyterem.

On October 24, 1998, white smoke appeared from the chimney of a small house in Montana. It was the signal that a new pope was elected. According to those present, the event ended a forty-year interregnum when the Catholic Church lacked a true leader. To them, there had been imposters on the Holy See ever since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.

The pope elected in Montana was the Capuchin priest Lucian Pulvermacher (1918–2009), who had left the ‘Novus Ordo church’ in 1976, becoming a sedevacantist. He took Pius XIII as his papal name, leading the true Catholic Church. Officially, ‘true’ should always be written in lowercase, as the Church Pius XIII led was nothing but the one Catholic Church, now in exile. Over fifty persons participated in the conclave. Apart from Pulvermacher, they were all laypeople, and most electors were not present but called or sent in their ballots.

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