Western Schism - Resolution

Resolution

Finally, the Council of Constance in 1414, advised by the theologian Jean Gerson, secured the resignations of antipope John XXIII and the successor in Rome of Innocent VII, Pope Gregory XII (who resigned in 1415, but not before formally empowering the Council of Constance to elect the new pope, thus ensuring the legitimacy of the election), and excommunicated the claimant who refused to step down, Avignon Pope Benedict XIII. The Council then elected Pope Martin V, essentially ending the schism. Nonetheless, the Kingdom of Aragon did not recognize Martin V and continued to recognize Benedict XIII. Archbishops loyal to Benedict XIII subsequently elected Antipope Benedict XIV (Bernard Garnier) and three followers simultaneously elected Antipope Clement VIII, but the Western Schism was by then practically over. (Clement VIII resigned in 1429 and apparently recognized Martin V.)

The line of Roman popes is now recognized as the legitimate line, but confusion on this point continued until the 19th century. Pope Pius II decreed that no appeal could be made from pope to council; this left no way to undo a papal election by anyone but the elected pope. No such crisis has arisen since the 15th century, and so there has been no need to revisit this decision. The alternate papal claimants have become known in history as antipopes. Those of Avignon were dismissed by Rome early on, but the Pisan popes were included in the Annuario Pontificio as popes well into the 20th century. Thus the Borgia pope Alexander VI took his regnal name in sequence after the Pisan Alexander V.