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Then when he dies, do we still have a state of sede vacante until Francis dies or resigns?  (He's not going to resign, not until everyone has given him his way on the TLM, so I guess that kind of narrows down the options.)

Or, assuming he is a Catholic and is eligible to be Pope, would he then become Pope due to (near-) universal acceptance, the acceptance he already has, even though, if Benedict is still Pope, that acceptance is a moot point for now?  IOW, would (near-) universal acceptance, when Benedict dies, be enough to "make him Pope", absence of a valid conclave notwithstanding?

Or would it follow that, since Francis was never validly elected (due to Benedict having never ceased to be Pope for whatever reason one might advance), the only way a new Pope can be had, is for there to be a valid papal election?  (Quite obviously there wouldn't be a conclave to "make Francis Pope now".)

Again, all of this assumes that one accepts Benedict as having been a valid Pope in the first place.

Thoughts?

Trying to figure out all this mess --- I cannot go "the full monty" of sedevacantism just yet, my father, requiescat in pace, wasn't so demure about matters --- I am toying with this notion.  It has a certain internal logic, and would explain how we can have a man on the papal throne, saying the things Francis says, doing the things Francis does, yet not be in a state of sede vacante. 

Time will tell.

If you make “not being a sede vacantist” your highest priority, you will never arrive at the truth.  A lot of the “bennyvacantists” are people who correctly understand that an idol-worshipping apostate cannot legitimately hold on to an ecclesiastical office but who are so fearful of being identified with sede vacantists that they have to ignore blatant heresy and apostasy in Ratzinger to assert that he is the true pope.  Worshipping in the Blue Mosque is just as much apostasy as worshipping pachamama.  So it will be interesting when Ratzinger dies to see how his followers react.  I’m a little skeptical that they will fall in line with sedes.  I think they will try to distinguish themselves somehow.  But how?