This question and attitude, demonstrate sedevacantism because these people would consequently be wrong. Pope Benedict would have been the only valid Pope, and Pope Francis would not have been Pope.
Therefore, if this was the case, logically, today we would have a sede vacante in the See of Rome, and with this, there would be no Pope. They are truly becoming sedevacantists, and this is not Catholic! There has never been, in the history of the Church, a long time without a Pope.
Even if, according to their stance, which is incorrect, there was the factor of sedevacantism for ten years because Pope Benedict did not govern the Church. Pope Benedict did not issue any decree or appoint new Bishops or Cardinals. In this case, this is contrary to the visibility of the Church, and we have to consider this aspect with importance greatly.
Now, the overwhelming majority of the Cardinals were appointed by Pope Francis, and these Cardinals will soon elect a new Pope, making it practically impossible for a sedevacantist scenario.
You see, all these have no solution. This is against common sense and even the tradition of the Church. Pope Benedict is no longer the Pope after his abdication, and he repeatedly declared this, and we have to accept this whether we want it or not.
For the sake of argument, hypothetically, if Pope Benedict had the characteristics of Pope Francis, an extremely liberal Pope who destroyed the clarity of the faith and then abdicated, which would raise doubts about the abdication. In the following conclave, if the Cardinals elected a traditional Pope, let's say, a new Pope Pius X, who would restore the tradition of the Church but was elected with some defects in the Conclave, such as the renouncement of his liberal predecessor, I think no Catholic with good common sense would say there is a new traditional Pope and reject him as not a true Pope. The only Pope is the recently abdicated liberal Pope.
I think this would be a nonsensical ideology grounded in the same principles that we have to carefully apply in this case.
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