David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022),[1] who took the name Pope Michael I, was an American conclavist claimant to the papacy.
[5][6] Bawden entered the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, in 1977, then transferred to Saint Joseph's Priory in Armada, Michigan.
[5] Prior to claiming the papacy, he worked as a real estate agent and furniture maker.
[8] Bawden had invited hundreds of Independent Catholic bishops and sedevacantists to the election, but none attended.
[13] Bawden established a presence on the internet as an alternative claimant to the papacy;[14] in 2009 he stated that he had approximately 30 "solid followers".
[6] In 2010, the independent filmmaker Adam Fairholm released a feature-length documentary about him, Pope Michael.
[20] On July 10, 2022, his church's Twitter account posted that Bawden had to have emergency surgery and was in a coma.