"Sede Vacante!" challenges six decades of papal legitimacy using doctrinal criteria

LOMPOC, Calif., Jan. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In a uniquely extensive, doctrinally-structured defense of sedevacantism, Griff Ruby has released "Sede Vacante!: Part One: Dogmatic Ecclesiology Applied to Our Times," a systematic, deeply theological defense of the "Sede Vacante finding," or sedevacantist position.

Sedevacantism is a traditionalist Catholic conclusion that believes that the occupiers of the Holy See have not been valid popes since at least the era of Vatican II, concluding that the papacy has been vacant all this time, and that the men commonly regarded as Popes, John XXIII through Leo, are not true Catholic Popes.

Ruby explains that the only valid way to understand the post-Vatican II crisis is to examine it through dogmatic ecclesiology, the body of infallible Catholic teaching on the nature, properties, and identity of the Church. He states that Catholics already know the symptoms of the crisis; what they lack is a coherent doctrinal explanation of why it happened and where the Church must be today if Catholic doctrine is true.

Ruby organizes the book around 16 distinct doctrines, each treated as a lens through which to view the current situation. Each chapter demonstrates how traditional Catholicism aligns with the doctrine and how the modern Vatican, or "Conciliar Church," fails every doctrinal test.

"The modern Vatican behaves as a separate society, distinct from the true Catholic Church, because it is capable of doctrinal error, something the Church herself cannot do," Ruby explained. "It lacks Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, Apostolicity, the four distinguishing Marks of the Church. It has defected from the faith and no longer represents Catholicism, and because of this, it has no spiritual authority or capacity to supply the Church with a valid Pope again."

Ruby continues his theological studies in a second book, "Sede Vacante!: Part Two: The Lumen Gentium Theory About our Present Ecclesial Circumstance."

"Sede Vacante!: Part One: Dogmatic Ecclesiology Applied to Our Times"
By Griff Ruby
ISBN: 9781532023767 (softcover); 9781663263780 (audio); 9781532023774 (electronic)
Available at iUniverse, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author
Born in 1958, Griff Ruby found the faith without the luxury of a religious upbringing, and at a time when Catholicism itself had lost its identity. His writings reflect many years of research into Christian history and theology and ecclesiology. His other books include "Sede Vacante!: Part Two," and "The Resurrection of the Roman Catholic Church." Ruby lives with his wife Juliet and son Martin on the Central California coast. To learn more, please visit his YouTube Channel.

General Inquiries:
LAVIDGE – Phoenix
Ashley Fletcher
afletcher@lavidge.com 

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SOURCE iUniverse