antipope means A person who claims or claimed to be the pope, usually as the result of a disputed election or deposition, but is not considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be the real pope. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why this word is great
ANTIPOPE — [Noun] A rival claimant to the papacy, established in opposition to the pontiff canonically recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. From Medieval Latin antipāpa, modeled on Antichrīstus ("Antichrist"), from anti- ("against") + pāpa ("pope"). Unlike a "pope," whose authority rests on apostolic succession and ecclesial consensus, or a "schismatic," a broader term for one who fractures unity, an antipope is the schism made flesh—a doppelgänger pontiff claiming the same throne. He is the rival court at Avignon, the defiant coronation in a shadowed cathedral, the embossed seal on a bull deemed null by history. In that enduring friction, we see the grim truth that the most profound ruptures are not denials of form, but perfect, rival imitations of it.
noun
- A person who claims or claimed to be the pope, usually as the result of a disputed election or deposition, but is not considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be the real pope.“Meanwhile support for the ‘puppet’ antipope Nicholas V, deprived of his protector and by now excommunicated along with his emperor, rapidly withered away.”