Roma Locuta Est

May 12, 2025 (Steven O’Reilly) – Just a day or so ago Roma Locuta Est published an article titled Habemus Problem? which surveyed the landscape of the assorted, leading voices of Benepapism (i.e., the belief Benedict’s resignation was invalid) and or leading voices of those who claimed Francis was an antipope.  The purpose of this research was to see whether any of these folks had, God willing, accepted the election of our new pope, Pope Leo XIV and abjured their many errors, or whether they had – God forbid – sunk in sedevacantism.

Unfortunately, our research suggests a couple or so of these leading voices have already rejected the election of Pope Leo XIV, while a few seem to be sitting of the fence.

One of those who has rejected the validity of Pope Leo XIV as pope is Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo.  And in regard to his situation, we have late, breaking news!

But First, Some Background….and SATIRE!

Now…what follows is satire. 

Before getting to the late-breaking news, we must remind our readers of Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo’s place in history — up till now. 

Long term readers of Roma Locuta Est will recall that “Brother” Bugnolo — along with others (e.g., see Habemus Problem?) — attempted to defend the claim that Benedict’s resignation was invalid and that he remained pope until his death, making Pope Francis an antipope. It is here that “Brother” Bugnolo’s destiny blazed a path of its own.

Following the death of Benedict XVI, Bugnolo declared the See of Rome vacant. When the College of Cardinals, in Bugnolo’s view, failed to to elect a successor to Benedict XVI; Bugnolo boldly went forward with organizing a “conclave” of his own to elect a “pope”!  

Seeing at this time the unaware hubris, utter absurdity, and humor surrounding Bugnolo’s “conclave” efforts, Roma Locuta Est decided to record these events in a satirical way for the benefit of posterity (see The Bugnolo Files). Roma Locuta Est recommends the reader review the The Bugnolo Files  to truly appreciate what transpired in those days which shook the world (with laughter).

Indeed, future generations should remember the rogue “conclave,” once held in an airport hotel outside of Rome (see The Bugnolan conclave begins January 30, 2023 at a Rome airport hotel!) at which there were only four or so participants – or should I say “electors”?  

But…on that day in January 2023…the great moment came. What follows may not be quite the way it happened…and in fact, it is NOT the way it happened.  But it is the way we imagine it happened…and the way we satirically imagine it should have happened, even though it didn’t really. And that way is, after due deliberations and heated campaigning amongst the electors — we imagine — after a few rounds of gin and tonics, and a plate of fried mozzarella cheese sticks; the four “electors” solemnly processed from the hotel bar – after the close of happy hour – into the conference room for the first scrutiny.

[Pictured Above from hotel website:  Michelangelo Hall?  We can only guess.  But, note…significantly…12 seats!]

Going into this “conclave”, many pundits — including we here at Roma Locuta Est — thought Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo to be the most “papabile” of all the candidates. Well…maybe not the most “papabile”…but at least the most likely to be elected by this “conclave.”  The thought being, the other three electors might prefer Bugnolo to drive them home, rather than having to pay for an Uber — and, if so, we thought this might help sway the election in Bugnolo’s favor…if this were indeed the case. 

But…then…the unexpected happened. After years of railing against Pope Francis as an anti-pope, the Bugnolan “conclave” electors — in a surprise move — elected Pope Francis as pope!  Less surprisingly, it only took a few weeks before “Brother” Bugnolo turned on the man he himself helped to elect to be pope.

The truth is, at least in the world of Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo, his “conclave” was valid…and therefore, he alone — and the 3 other electors with him — bear sole responsibility for making Francis a “true pope.”

Accordingly, one must wonder whether “Brother” Bugnolo, in the months and long years following this “conclave” ever — when he looked into the mirror in the morning — shook his head at himself and said —  “What were you thinking, brother”!  Or, did he ever wake up in the dark of night in a cold sweat, reliving the “conclave” in his nightmares, screaming “I should be ‘true pope’ — not Francis!”

Now, the late-breaking news!

Now in my article surveying the reactions of the so-called Benepapists, Roma Locuta Est reported that Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo had declared that election of Pope Leo XIV was invalid.  We wondered aloud in that article:

“As a final note on Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo.  Now that he has declared that Pope Leo XIV is not in fact the pope, will Bugnolo now organize yet another “conclave” of his own?  And if so, does he have membership points at the airport hotel?”

(Source: Habemus Problem?)

Well, the question I asked about whether Bugnolo would organize another “conclave” appears to have been answered.  In a recent article on “Brother” Bugnolo’s blog – to which a video is also attached; Bugnolo writes (bold added):

Br. Bugnolo, who lives at Rome explains in this video the fight which lies before us. He invites Catholics to come to Rome and collaborate with him to organize the Faithful in the City (3 Million) to exercise their ancient right to elect their own Bishop. And if you cannot come, to help him with the expenses to conduct a massive publicity campaign.

(Source: Why no Catholic should accept Cardinal Prevost as the Pope, May 11, 2025)

So, as he did before, “Brother” Bugnolo appears to be preparing to move ahead to organize a “conclave” to elect a “pope.”  Bugnolo’s video also lays out his need for “manpower” and “financial support.” Bugnolo says that the last effort cost $60,000.

Bugnolo says he now needs to raise the funds to do ‘lots of publicity‘, and that he has to talk to ‘all the clergy and all the cardinals and laity of Rome‘….and ‘hold meetings‘…and ‘rent meeting halls‘….and he needs to do ‘poster publications‘ and ‘radio publications‘ and ‘TV publications.’ “Brother” Bugnolo says in his video that he cannot ‘save the Church of Rome by himself‘! He says he does not have a penny to his name; so I guess that explains why he needs YOUR pennies.  But, he does say he is ‘convinced’ that God has put him ‘in this world in this year at Rome for this fight.’ So there’s that.

Now…I did check Polymarket…and they don’t have any odds as of yet on this “conclave” or on who the oddsmakers view to be the leading candidates. However, Roma Locuta Est will venture its prognostication at this early stage. Assuming, Alexis “Brother” Bugnolo goes through with this “conclave” initiative; I suspect that this time, Bugnolo will be elected “pope” by the “conclave” he organized. Electing Francis didn’t work out for him so well last time, so we think, from his perspective, Bugnolo will not repeat the same “mistake” twice.

As a post-script, I did find it quite amusing that beneath Bugnolo’s article someone in the comments section with the handle of “HG” accused “Brother” Bugnolo of “actually” being CIA, writing:

“The See has been vacant since Pius XII. That you seemingly can’t understand that leads me to question if you’re actually C.I.A.”

(See HERE)

Given my former background in intelligence, and having been the object of “Brother” Bugnolo’s ad hominems because of it (e.g., see HERE), I had to laugh thinking that there was actually someone who had their tin foil hat more tightly wound around their head than did “Brother” Bugnolo.  But, I wonder…hmmm….did “Brother” Bugnolo’s answer to “HG” really sound convincing when he replied:

“As for the CIA, if you know what they are, and it seems you do not, then you would realize I am not a member of the CIA and no one in my family ever worked for them.”

Hmmm….”Brother”…but isn’t that precisely what a CIA person would say???  LOL.

Final Thoughts

As I indicated earlier. The above article is satire, and intended as such.  I do pray for “Brother” Bugnolo, and hope for the best for him — and that includes ending this nonsense, and accepting Pope Leo XIV as the true pope.

But, as a final note, I do still believe that a story based on these “conclave” efforts would some day make an excellent “mockumentary” in the style of This is Spinal Tap.  If there are any interested movie producers out there…I’d be happy to write the screen play!

Steven O’Reilly is a graduate of the University of Dallas and the Georgia Institute of Technology. A former intelligence officer, he and his wife, Margaret, live near Atlanta. He has written apologetic articles, and is author of Book I of the Pia Fidelis trilogy, The Two Kingdoms; and of Valid? The Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. He writes for Roma Locuta Est He can be contacted at StevenOReilly@AOL.com. Follow on Twitter: @S_OReilly_USA.