[metmom]

That everyone is pope if there’s no pope.

What about the times the Catholic church has been without a pope in its history?

Did that by default mean that every single Catholic then became his own pope?

What about the Catholics who don’t even recognize the papacy as the EO don’t? Are they their own popes?

What about the sedevacanists? Their own pope?

[Mad Dawg]

I love these questions! I wouldn't say the EOs are Catholic. For moi, the working definition of Catholic is "in communion with the Holy See." As it currently stands, in extraordinary circumstances,, we can receive communion from EOs and they can receive it from us. So this is an extraordinary situation.

But the inability of the EOs to agree on a patriarch is possible meaningful. During the "babylonian captivity" and the Avignon papacy the FEAR that the notion of a final authority was very real. And yes. Ecclesiologically speaking, the sedevacantists are Protestants.