Sedevacantism, American Catholicism's only homegrown "new religious movement" (NRM), argues that the Catholic Church has sunk into heresy at the hands of false popes. It sits at the extremes of two growing phenomena: Traditionalist Catholicism and Independent Catholicism. The only Roman Catholic bishop ever to espouse Sedevacantism was Archbishop Pierre Martin Ng -dinh-Thuc -- but who was he?

ARCHBISHOP THUC, Godfather of Vietnam's notorious ruling clan, key CIA contact, and apologist for a brutal, failing regime. But Thuc escaped, leaving behind a mysterious fortune, secret deals, abuse cover-ups, and the Vietnam War. In exile, Thuc helped launch the fanatical Palmarian cult (which later canonized Franco and Hitler), inspired assorted renegades, and reemerged as the icon of a new hardline movement called Sedevacantism.

SEDE VACANTE: The Life and Legacy of Archbishop Thuc painstakingly reconstructs this remarkable story: from French Indochina to the Japanese occupation; from the Communist revolution to the doomed US-backed puppet regime; from Thuc's exile to his role in Vatican II. Sede Vacante investigates the origins of the secretive Palmarian cult and analyzes the theological, sacramental, and canonical issues arising from all of Thuc's exploits; it explains why, now more than ever, Catholics and non-Catholics alike should be aware of Sedevacantism.