The origins of the Palmarians as a distinct body can be traced back to the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Palmar, which took place in Andalusia, Spain from 1968 onward. Two men became particularly associated with this movement as time went on, Clemente Domínguez y Gómez and Manuel Alonso Corral. The former was known as a charismatic visionary and seer, while the latter the intellectual éminence grise. The messages of these visions were favourable to a traditionalist Catholic pushback to the liberalising changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council and alleged a "Masonic infiltration" of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1975, the Palmarians founded a religious order known as the Carmelites of the Holy Face and had a number of priests ordained, then consecrated as bishops by Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục, giving them holy orders. After the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978, Clemente Domínguez claimed that he had been mystically crowned Pope of the Catholic Church by Jesus Christ and was to reign as Pope Gregory XVII from El Palmar de Troya.
There have been three subsequent Palmarian Popes and the man currently reigning since 2016 is Pope Peter III. Critical scholars, journalists and former followers almost universally describe the organization as a cult.[2][3] Members are expected not to watch any films or television, vote or read newspapers.[4] They also engage in heavy shunning of former members and are not allowed to talk to people unrelated to the Palmarian Christian Church.
The official name of the Palmarian Church in the register of religious entities in the Kingdom of Spain is the Iglesia Cristiana Palmariana de los Carmelitas de la Santa Faz (English: Palmarian Christian Church of the Carmelites of the Holy Face). This is due to a legal process which began in 1980, when the church applied to the Spanish Ministry of Justice for the status of recognised religion under the name Iglesia Católica, Apostólica y Palmariana, Orden Religiosa de los Carmelitas de la Santa Faz en Compañía de Jesús y María (English: Catholic, Apostolic and Palmarian Church, Religious Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face in Company of Jesus and Mary).[5] This was initially rejected in 1982 by the Director-General of Religious Affairs who said that the terms "Catholic", "Pope" and "Cardinals", used by the Palmarians bore "excessive resemblance" to those still used by the Roman Catholic Church; in addition, the Palmarians simply claimed that they were the Catholic Church.[5] A few months later, they made a fresh application using the current official name with "Christian" instead of Catholic, while continuing to use terms such as the Holy Catholic Palmarian Church, the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Palmarian Church, the Palmarian Catholic Church and other variations in internal documents. The Director-General again rejected the registration due to the changes only being "semantic", but the Palmarians finally pushed through their registration through the Supreme Court of Spain in 1987 using the current official name.[6]
The Virgin Mary as she appeared as Our Lady of La Salette in 1846. This initiated a series of apocalyptic Marian apparitions, warning modern man of a coming great chastisement.
From the 19th century onward, there has been in the Catholic world, a series of what Magnus Lundberg calls "Marian Apocalyptic movements", resulting from reported Marian apparitions, in which the Virgin Mary is said to appear to members of the laity.[7] In the apparitions, she typically bears an important eschatological message, warning humanity of a coming chastisement from God for its sinful behaviour and apostacy, followed by a period of peace and virtue for the faithful remnant and then a more fearsome chastisement in response to humanity returning to its sinful ways, and a final world war leading to the end of the world.[8] Some of these have been recognised by the Roman Catholic Church after an investigation and declared worthy of belief and veneration, but most of them have not.[7] Palmarians regard several Marian apparitions in particular as important steps on the way to the appearance of Our Lady of Palmar; these are Our Lady of La Salette (1846),[9]Fátima (1917),[10]Ezkioga (1931),[11]Heroldsbach (1949),[12]Ladeira do Pinheiro (1960),[13]San Damiano (1961)[14] and Garabandal (1961).[15]
The apparitions of El Palmar de Troya took place in Spain at a time of religious and political upheaval, during the final decade that Francisco Franco was Caudillo of the Spanish State.[16] The government had been established in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and during the war the nationalists identified themselves as engaged in a "Crusade against the Second Republic (1931–1939), international communism and freemasonry."[16] Before and during the Civil War, many Catholic clerics were killed by the republican side and in some places the Catholic Church had to go underground. After victory, under Franco, National Catholicism was adopted in Spain, whereby Spanishness and Catholicism were presented as being inseparable.[17] In the worldview of Francoism, Spain was a "providential nation, being a faithful Catholic bulwark against liberalism, Freemasonry, Protestantism and communism."[17] Spain was a confessional state and this broadly had the support of the church, however, by the 1940s, there was some concerns about the power of the state subordinating the church and after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the high episcopacy, particularly Cardinal Vicente Enrique y Tarancón began to push against Franco for "reforms" and the creation of a more modern state.[18] This was not unanimous and some Spanish priests belonging to the Hermandad Sacerdotal Española backed Francoists against the new liberal-leaning line of the Spanish Episcopal Conference and the Vatican.[19]
Following the Second Vatican Council, which took place between 1962 and 1965, there emerged a new openness to religious liberty, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and on the back of it, introduced in 1969, a New Order of Mass.[20] These changes scandalised traditionalists within the Catholic Church and an insurgent traditionalist Catholic movement emerged pushing back against this.[20] Prominent early figures included Frenchmen such as Georges de Nantes, who founded the Ligue de la contre-réforme catholique[20] and Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who founded the Society of St. Pius X (which became by far the most prominent).[21] The early Palmarian themes were a part of this milleu, with direct and indirect relationships with the traditionalist Catholic resistance worldwide, including the SSPX.[22] According to Lundberg, traditionalists refused to believe that "a true Catholic hierarchy would make such changes, and saw modernist, masonic and communist conspiracies".[20] A common traditionalist theme of decrying "infiltration", raised questions about the complicity of the Pope himself: Lefebvre diplomatically criticised Pope Paul VI, but still considered him a true Pope. At the opposite end, by 1971, sedevacantists emerged who claimed that Paul VI was a non-Catholic Antipope leading a new heretical religion,[23] an early example of which is Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga.
Apparitions of Our Lady of Palmar and Devotion to the Holy Face
On 30 March 1968, four Spanish Catholic girls,[24][25][26] aged 12 and 13—Ana García, Rafaela Gordo, Ana Aguilera and Josefa Guzmán—reported that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them in the field of La Alcaparroa farm, close to the village of El Palmar de Troya, which at that time was a district of the municipality of Utrera, in the province of Seville, Andalusia, Spain.[27] On 11 April 1968, a devout Catholic woman named Rosario Arenillas reported seeing the Virgin Mary with the mantle of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the same place.[28] On 20 May 1968 a neighbor from Utrera named María Marín also said she had seen the Virgin in the same place.[28] On 6 June 1968, María Luisa Vila from Seville went to the farm and said she had a mystical ecstasy in which Jesus Christ administered communion to her and, according to witnesses, when she opened her mouth there was a bloody host inside.[29] In the summer of 1968, Antonio Romero, Manuel Fernández, José Navarro, Antonio Anillos and Arsenia Llanos also said they suffered mystical ecstasies there.[30]
On 15 October 1968, Clemente Domínguez and Manuel Alonso Corral visited the site for the first time. Manuel "Manolo" Corral worked in an insurance brokerage[31] that Serafín Madrid used to finance his charitable works. When Corral became involved in the situation at Palmar de Troya he was expelled from the insurance company (belief in the apparitions were strongly opposed by José Bueno y Monreal, Archbishop of Seville, who refused to examine the seers or even open up any enquiries).[32][33] On 15 August 1969, the two men attended a Holy Mass celebrated by a Jesuit priest there and during it María Luisa Vila said she had a vision of the Virgin (Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, drawn to mystical phenomenon, held a long interview with Vila who he had met previously at Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz).[34] Later they ran into María Marín and Nectorio María who said they had a vision of Jesus Christ. After this point, Domínguez and Corral visited far more frequently.[35] There they talked with the visionaries and witnessed their ecstasies and on 14 September 1969, both declared that they had an appearance of a luminous cross.[36]
Santa Faz by Alonso López de Herrera. Based on apparitions in 1969, devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus Christ would become a prominent aspect of the Palmarians.
On 30 September 1968, Rosario Arenillas and Domínguez said they had a vision of Jesus Christ and Padre Pio.[37] A few days later María Luisa Vila declared that she had the same vision.[38] On 8 December 1968, Domínguez claimed to have a vision in which the Virgin and the angels gave him a Dominican habit and on 10 December 1968, Domínguez said that Dominic de Guzmán had appeared to him to recommend praying the Rosary and the Pater Noster. On 10 December 1968 he also said that Joseph appeared to him. On 12 December 1969, Domínguez said he had another vision of Dominic and next to him he said he saw the Holy Face of Jesus. Then he said that Dominic had given him the message that he should expand devotion to the Holy Face, the Stations of the Cross and the reparative communion on the first Thursday of each month, to repair the outrages to the divine face of the Lord. Domínguez and Corral began to carry a portrait of the Holy Face for prayers in which ecstasy occurred.[39]
Domínguez claimed to suffer stigmata of the Holy Wounds during his visions, such as a cross-shaped cut on his forehead[40] and cuts on his hands.[41] These visions and stigmata, according to Domínguez himself, also occurred in the boarding house in Seville where he lived. At one point he revealed a 10-centimeter cut on his side, which was a supposed stigmata, representing where Jesus Christ had been pierced in his side by Roman soldier Longinus with the Holy Lance.[42] On 16 July 1970, a supposed Marian apparition told him that the waters from a well in the area were miraculous and that it produced healings.[43] A mastic tree in the area had been associated with some of the visions and on 2 February 1970, the believers put a picture of the Holy Face on it. A large number of people were drawn to El Palmar de Troya, with 40,000 people witnessing one of Domínguez' mystical ecstasies and his stigmata.[44] On 2 February 1970 they put a photo of the Holy Face in the mastic and on 2 March 1972, an image of the Divina Pastora was blessed. The Virgin of Palmar was placed in the mastic on 12 September 1972.[39] When the Vatican denied the veracity of the apparitions of Our Lady of Garabandal (elsewhere in Spain) on 8 February 1971, there was a reported apparition of Jesus Christ in the mastic to encourage the faithful who gathered at the farm.[45]
With the duo of Domínguez and Corral now the people most closely associated with visions at Palmar; the former the visionary stigmatist and the latter the one who wrote down, copied and distributed the information; they set about spreading the message far beyond Spain. The visions were translated into English, French and German languages and the newsletter, Ecos del Palmar, was published from Barcelona by supporter Jóse María Andreu Magri from 1972.[46] In the early 1970s, as well as receiving donations form ordinary Catholic followers, they gained some substantial benefactors.[46] Most notably, the Baroness de Castillo Chirel, then 90 years old, a devout Catholic woman who had been a follower of Garabandal, gave Domínguez and Corral a donation of 16 million pesatas in 1972 (worth roughly €1.8 million in 2023).[47][48] As part of their quest to spread the message, throughout the 1970s, the duo, often joined by their ally, Carmelo Pacheco Sánchez (1948–1997), they travelled throughout Spain and Western Europe, before eventually making annual trips across the Atlantic to Latin America and the United States. The traffic was not all one way, as pilgrims came to visit El Palmar de Troya from many different countries in the Catholic world, with Irish people and German-speaking people (Germans, Austrians and Swiss people) being overrepresented.[49][50]
They went to Rome several times, first on 8 July 1970, where Clemente jumped over a barrier, avoiding Swiss Guard, to keel before a precession of Pope Paul VI and present a letter (taken by a priest).[51] Corral claimed later the Palmarians met with Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani who informed Paul VI. Earlier, on 27 December 1969, they attempted to deliver a letter to the Spanish head of state, Francisco Franco, asking him to read a secret from God to the Spanish nation as part of his end-of-year speech.[51] The duo turned up at El Pardo unannounced and ad hoc meetings were not accepted, they were instead directed to deliver the letter to his private secretariat in the Palacio de Oriente.[51] Stopping off to pray at a Carmelite church on the way, Domínguez had a vision of the Virgin Mary who told him he had been deceived by the devil and to not deliver the letter.[51] Another substantial benefactor, gained during their trips to the United States, was the business woman Marguerite Mary Paul (1921–2001) from Necedah, Wisconsin and her husband.[52][48][a] By 1974 Domínguez and Corral were able to purchase the 15,000 square meter plot of land at La Alcaparroa.[53] Following an alleged apparition of Jesus Christ on 30 May 1975, the devotees of Palmar were requested to construct a sanctuary at La Alcaparroa.[54] Along with the money from donors, a loan was taken out from the Central Bank of Utrera in the name Francisco González, Carlos Girón and Manuel Alonso.[54]
Foundation of the Carmelites of the Holy Face
Coat of arms of the Carmelites of the Holy Face, in common with historical usage by Carmelites.
Although there were a few ordained priests of the Roman Catholic Church who were supporters of Our Lady of Palmar and the direction taken by Domínguez and Corral, the majority of those associated with the movement were at that point laymen, as were most of the pilgrims. The nucleus of an organisation began to develop through cenacles (prayer-groups), where the participants referred to themselves as Marian Apostles, or Apostles of the Cross (also Cross Bearers).[55] On 30 November 1975, just ten days after the death of Spanish head of state, Francisco Franco, Domínguez claimed to have a vision of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, announcing that a new religious order would be founded by the Palmarians.[56] This order would be a synthesis of "the best" elements of all previous Catholic religious orders and they were to be the "Apostles of the Last Times" (a reference to the prophesies of Louis de Montfort, a noted Mariologist).[56] With Domínguez himself as General, the order was revealed to the world as the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face on 22 December 1975.[57] It was announced that it would have four classes; priests, brothers, sisters and tertiaries, laypeople, each wearing a Carmelite habit and a brown scapular, with the images of the Holy Face of Jesus and Our Lady of Palmar.[57]
A major issue that facing the order at the beginning was that it wished to have more ordained priests and indeed consecrated bishops (both Domínguez and Corral wanted this for themselves in particular, as they were officially laymen). They could not rely on the assistance of the local ordinary, Cardinal José Bueno y Monreal, of the Archdiocese of Seville, due to his blanket opposition to anything to do with El Palmar de Troya. Nevertheless, it was ideologically important for the Carmelites of the Holy Face, to receive legitimate holy orders using the old rite of ordination, from a verifiable bishop of the Catholic Church with (in the Catholic view) undoubted apostolic succession, in communion with Pope Paul VI. The most visible bishop publicly associated with traditionalists was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of the Society of St. Pius X and the Palmarians had a significant sympathiser within the society, in the form of Maurice Revaz,[b] a canon of the Swiss Abbey of Grand-Saint-Bernard who was teaching at the International Seminary of Saint Pius X at Écône, Switzerland.[58] Revaz asked Lefebvre if he would go to El Palmar de Troya for this purpose, but he declined, pointing them instead to the exiled Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục with the words "He is orthodox and he is not at present occupied. Go and seek him out. He will most certainly agree with your request."[59]
Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục, in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, ordained and then consecrated clergy for the Carmelites of the Holy Face, giving them valid holy orders.
Revaz, along with the McElligotts,[60] an Irish Palmarian family who had property in Switzerland, [61] drove from Switzerland to Rome to approach the Vietnamese archbishop. Revaz and Thục were already familiar with each other as they had both previously met as pilgrims to El Palmar de Troya in 1974. The background of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục is that he was previously made the Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam by Pope John XXIII, but due to the 1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état which killed several close members of his family, he was living in exile in Rome.[57] In 1968, Paul VI had made him the Titular Archbishop of Bulla Regia. Outraged by the murder of his relatives and deeply anti-communist, he was in good standing in Rome[62] but increasingly disillusioned with their "diplomatic" approach to communism and started to draw closer to traditionalism in his exile. Revaz convinced Thục that the Virgin Mary sent him to render her a service and that they must leave immediately to Andalusia, he agreed and the party took a three-day car journey to El Palmar de Troya and Thục was celebrating the Pontifical High Mass there with the Carmelites of the Holy Face by Christmas Eve 1975.[57]
While in El Palmar de Troya, on 31 December 1975, without the permission of the local ordinary at Seville, Thục ordained five men of the Carmelites of the Holy Face to the priesthood,[57] conferring holy orders on the two Spaniards; Clemente Domínguez (who took the religious name Ferdinand) and Manuel Alonso Corral (who took the religious name Isidore), the two Irishmen; Paul Gerald Fox (who took the religious name Abraham) and Francis Coll (who took the religious name Gabriel), as well as the Frenchman; Louis Henri Moullins (who took the religious name Zacarias).[63] Following this, the now Father Ferdinand claimed to have a vision from the Virgin Mary declaring that the Carmelites of the Holy Face needed to have bishops consecrated and as proof of this an alleged miracle was performed, as she had placed the Infant Jesus in his hands (invisible to the human eye), which Domínguez then passed to Archbishop Thục, who supposedly felt the weight of the Infant in his hands and agreed to the consecrations.[59] On 11 January 1976, in a five-hour ceremony through the night, Thục consecrated five Palmarians to the episcopacy, including two men who he had just ordained as priests (Domínguez and Corral), in addition to three priests who had previously been ordained to the priesthood by the Roman Catholic Church, before the visions of Our Lady of Palmar; Camilo Estévez Puga (1924–1997; a Spaniard also known as Leandro), Francis Bernard Sandler (1917–1992; an American Catholic convert from Rabbinic Judaism who was a Benedictine and had served as a parish priest in Sweden, also known as Fulgencio) and finally Michael Thomas Donnelly (1927–1982; an Irish priest from Belfast from the Company of Mary, who within two months left the Palmarians).[64]
The Palmarians recognised Pope Paul VI as a true Pope, but claimed that he was a suffering victim soul for the church, held prisoner and drugged in the Vatican by Masonic infiltrators.
The Vatican, through first Cardinal Bueno, then their Nuncio to Spain Luigi Dadaglio and finally Franjo Šeper's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, quickly moved against Thục and the Palmarians.[65] They did not question the validity of the orders as such, but essentially declared that they were canonically illicit or irregular, due to not having permission, that they were ipso iure suspended from exercising their powers and ipso factoexcommunicated.[65][66][67] The Palmarians for their part, declared their loyalty to Pope Paul VI and argued that the claim of excommunication was illegitimate, claiming that in 1938, Pope Pius XI had granted Archbishop Thục the special power to ordain priests and bishops without requiring further permission.[68] Regardless, in the eyes of the Palmarians, the Roman Curia was categorised as being packed with masonic infiltrators, who were supposedly drugging Pope Paul VI and holding him hostage in the Vatican. In relation to this, Domínguez had another vision in January 1976, where it is claimed Jesus Christ told him to consecrate more bishops and create an episcopal college for Pope Paul VI to come and govern the church from El Palmar de Troya.[69] With Thục now fading into the background, the Palmarians under their own initiative between the years 1976 and 1978 had consecrated 91 additional bishops (mostly Irish and Spaniards, over 40% split almost evenly between these two nationalities, with the rest from mostly German-speaking Europe, as well as English, Nigerians, Argentines, Australians and many more different nations).[69]
In May 1976, a major incident occurred while five Palmarian bishops were returning from a trip to Derval, Brittany, France, as there was a serious automobile crash in the Basque Country.[70] The glass from the windshield shattered and went into the eyes of the General of the Order, Domínguez. Not only was he completely blinded by the incident, but the damage was such that he had to have his eyeballs surgically removed at San Sebastián hospital.[70] The party had gone to Derval to deal with a crisis where a couple of Palmarian bishops there had gone across to the mystic, Pierre Poulain. According to the Palmarians, the devil attacked the car, after Poulain cast a black magic spell on his rival Domínguez.[69] The Spanish media began to call him the "blind-seer." After months of silence, Domínguez reported a vision of Jesus Christ in September 1976, in which Christ is quoted as saying "No one should think that the palm-tree is lying down. It is more upright than ever because victory is found in the passion and crucifixion. Then comes the resurrection."[71] Christ is then quoted as saying that he is preparing Domínguez to be a future Pope.[71] God had thus allowed the blinding as a trial, a test of faith and a cross to bear, if he prevailed, he would prove himself worthy of the Papacy.[71]
Pope Saint Paul VI lived in the Vatican surrounded by enemies, who acted as gaolers and tormentors. This holy Pope passed the days of his pontificate subjected to large doses of drugs, which were administered to him by his tormentors. These were cardinals, bishops, priests and so forth. Among these tormentors there stand out Cardinal Jean Villot, Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, Cardinal Sebastian Baggio, Cardinal Poletti,—and among others there also stands out Casaroli, of the Vatican's diplomatic service, the great traitor, who opened the gates for satanical dialogue with the Marxists. Pope Saint Paul VI is not guilty of the heresies introduced, since he was coerced and drugged. Also the holy Pontiff's signature was forged, and in addition, falsified documents were promulgated. The Masons and other infiltrated heretics in the Roman Curia reached the point of destroying the Catholic Mass, changing it and putting in its place the heretical Mass of the great Mason and traitor Bugnini.
We give guarantee and assurance, pledging Our word in the name of Christ, that the life of Pope Saint Paul VI was exemplary and virtuous. This holy Pope gave himself up completely to prayer and penance, and, of course, to continual self-sacrifice, his pontificate having been a sorrowful ascent to Calvary. This holy Pope was vilely murdered by the traitors of the Roman Curia.
— Pope Gregory XVII, Twenty-Fourth Document, 24 October 1978.[72]
The Holy See at El Palmar de Troya
Reign of Pope Gregory XVII the Very Great
An example of a Papal tiara. Clemente Domínguez claimed to have been mystically crowned Pope of the Catholic Church by Jesus Christ in an apparition. He took the name Pope Gregory XVII.
Pope Paul VI died on 6 August 1978 and according to the Palmarians (who consider him a Christian martyr), the Pope was supposedly "vilely murdered by the traitors of the Roman Curia" (specifically, they claim he was poisoned to death by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot).[72] At the time of his passing, the General of the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face and other top Palmarian bishops, were in Bogotá, Colombia, as part of their regular trips across the Atlantic Ocean to see to their followers and attempt to recruit more clergy. While waiting to be deported from Colombia, a few hours after the death of Pope Paul VI, Domínguez reported an apparition, in which a mystical papal coronation ceremony took place, where he was crowned Sovereign Pontiff of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church by Jesus Christ himself, with Peter and Paul in attendance, as well as the recently deceased Pope Paul VI.[73] Although confessing to be but a poor sinner, from now on he would be referred to by Palmarian believers as Pope Gregory XVII and the Holy See of the Catholic Church would no longer be in Rome, but in El Palmar de Troya. The motto he took was Gloria Olivae, drawn from the Prophesy of the Popes, a Christian apocalyptic writing.[74]
After returning to Seville, Domínguez held a consistory which selected a Palmarian College of Cardinals, with 24 Palmarian bishops raised to rank of Cardinal, including his close friend Corral.[74] Having kept details of the "celestial" papal enthronement from the press, the public papal coronation ceremony took place on 15 August 1979, where four Palmarian cardinals (including Corral) placed the papal tiara on his head.[74][75] Domínguez had claimed since the early 1970s that Pope Paul VI would be succeeded by a true Pope and an Antipope.[76] Thus, when the Vatican declared Albino Luciani as their new Pope on 26 August 1978, he was portrayed in a Palmarian Papal pronouncement by Pope Gregory XVII as a usurper, "that clown of an Antipope, Cardinal Luciani, called John Paul I" with his "false smile".[72] The Vatican for their part decided to merely inaugurate Luciani, eschewing over 800 years of papal coronation ceremonies.[77] This supposed Vatican "Antipope" was in place for only a month before being replaced by Karol Wojtyła, also known as John Paul II (In his Twenty-Fourth Document on 24 October 1978, Domínguez used his claimed authority to "excommunicate and anathematise the Antipope Cardinal Wojtyla", who is described as a "marxist spy" who infiltrated the church as a youth, stating in addition, "we hurl excommunication also at all followers of this Antipope").[72] The reigns of Pope Gregory XVII in El Palmar de Troya and John Paul II in the Vatican were closely synchronised, both lasting from 1978 until 2005.[75][78] These Roman "Antipopes" were called precursors of the Antichrist by the Palmarians.[75]
My son: now you can see how rotten and corrupt the official church, the Roman Church is. Through her fornication, she has become the Great Whore. It is she who is in pact with the enemies of Christ. It is she who respects all religions. It is she who preaches truths and lies at the same time. This Roman church is now nourished by a beast, the usurper John Paul II—the true church is no longer Roman. The true church is Palmarian, as you have preached yourself, assisted by the Holy Ghost. It is no longer possible to be Roman, as the Holy See has been moved by the order of Christ.
Fr. Isidore (Manuel Alonso Corral), later Pope Peter II, was the intellect behind presenting much of Palmarian dogma, including at the First Palmarian Council.
From 1978 until 1997, Palmarian Church leadership consisted of the following: Pope Gregory XVII at the very top, with the role of Secretary of State held by Cardinal Isidore (Corral) underneath and the number three position in the hierarchy was held by the Vice-Secretary of State, Cardinal Elias (Carmelo Pacheco Sánchez).[80] All three were Spaniards, which led to some complaints from the membership, but they simply insisted that they were the most suitable men for the jobs as "three apocalyptic bulls who attack heretics with their mystical horns."[81] The dynamic was that the Pope was the charismatic visionary and seer, while Corral, who he relied on to record everything, was the intellectual éminence grise. Some of the Palmarian bishops and laymen were unwilling to take the leap of accepting the claims of Domínguez to the Papacy and the Holy See moving to El Palmar de Troya, deciding to leave (some reconciled with Rome, others drifted away from religion). Some examples include Palmarian bishops, Maurice Revaz (who took the religious name Hermenegildo) and Alfred Seiwert-Fleige (who took the religious name Athanasius). Domínguez and twelve Cardinals in 1979 made an apostolic journey from El Palmar de Troya to the Holy Land, passing through places outside of Spain which had a significant number of Palmarian faithful such as Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, France, Great Britain and Ireland.[75]
Between 1978 and 1980, a total of forty-seven pontifical documents were published, before the opening of the First Palmarian Council. These covered the canonisation of over 1,000 new saints,[82] the promulgation of various Mariological and Josephine dogmas, excommunications of "heretics", anathemas against freemasonry (especially), communism and capitalism, declarations of new Doctors of the Church, declaring as anathema anyone who "dare to condemn the marvelous work of the Holy Inquisition," calling on all nations to enact the death penalty for abortion (a "monsterous crime"), condemnations of the Vatican "Anti-Papacy", declaring the New Order of Mass anathema and stating that although the Holy Ghost convoked the Second Vatican Council, he was expelled from it by the majority of apostate bishops who were agents of freemasonry and even though some Catholic truths were present in the documents, due to Pope Paul VI being "drugged" and questions as to the authenticity of his signature on the documents, these aspects alone "invalidates the Council."[72]
María de Jesús de Ágreda, author of the Mystical City of God. The writings of the Spanish mystic from the Conceptionists, influenced the doctrinal works of the First Palmarian Council.
Within the Palmarian Catholic Church, the First Palmarian Council (1980–1992) is recognised as the 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, following on from the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and the Vatican Council (1869–1870), with the supposed "Second Vatican Council" having been declared as invalid.[72] At the opening session on 30 March 1980, the Palmarian Credo was published, which lays out the basic teachings of the Church.[83] As part of the council, the Latin-Tridentine-Palmarian Rite of the Holy Mass was introduced on 9 October 1983. The final doctrinal work resulting from the twelve-year Council was the Treatise of the Mass (1992).[83] This work takes the form of an allegorical interpretation of sacred scripture from the context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, including the lives of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, elaborated by the visions of Pope Gregory XVII, as well as integrating the works of Catholic mystics of a Marian apocalyptic bent, such as Maria de Jesús Ágreda (1602–1665) and Anna Katharina Emmerich (1774–1824).[84]
A significant incident occurred on 19 May 1982, which furthered the conflict between Palmarians and the outside world. Pope Gregory XVII and a number of Palmarian bishops were visiting the Basilica of the Annunciation of Our Lady of Discalced Carmelites of Alba de Tormes, near Salamanca, which is the final resting place of St. Teresa of Ávila. Before the arrival of the Palmarians, there had been rumours spread that they intended to remove the relics of St. Teresa and take them back to El Palmar de Troya.[85] While walking through the convent, the allegedly drunk Pope, along with his Palmarian bishops, shouted that John Paul II was an Antipope and told visiting women who were wearing trousers (considered immodest dress by the Palmarians) that they were whores.[85] The Palmarian clerics were then set upon by a large number of local people, who attacked some of the bishops and tipped one of their vehicles into the River Tormes; they took refuge in the convent until the Guardia Civil could disperse the mob.[85] As a direct response, between 30 and 31 July 1982, Pope Gregory XVII issued a number of decrees which stated that only Palmarians could receive grace and indulgencies from holy relics and images, but for members of "apostate, heretical and schismatic churches", such powers were now withdrawn, veiled to them and they could derive no supernatural value.[86] They also declared that outside of the Palmarian Catholic Church, all powers of bishops, presbyters and deacons were now withdrawn by Pope Gregory XVII, meaning that outside of the Palmarian Church, no other alleged clergyman with holy orders could validly claim to exercise their power or have the right to legitimately perform any act of priestly ministry, including those pertaining to the holy sacraments of the Church.[1]
The Sacred History and the Great Expulsion
Pope Gregory XVII claimed in 1997 to have a vision of the Prophet Elias, who told him that errors had been introduced into the Bible over centuries and needed to be "purified."
The Church leadership was shaken in 1997, as the number three and four in the Palmarian hierarchy: the Vice-Secretary, Fr. Elias (Carmelo Pacheco Sánchez) and Fr. Leandro (Camilo Estévez Puga) had died within two months of each other (Pacheco died in an automobile incident, hit by a truck). With this the Pope lost two of his stalwart supporters and most trusted advisors, which effected him deeply.[80] Fr. Sergio (Ginés Jesús Hernández), another Spaniard, who had been an electrician became the number three in the Church. Pope Gregory XVII reported a vision in 1997 where the Prophet Elias appeared to him and allegedly said that the enemies of Christ (elsewhere, "Jews and Masons")[87] had introduced lies into the Catholic Bible (including the Latin Vulgate, traditionally accepted by the Catholic Church) and that its contents must be reworked to "remove errors".[88] The process in which this new Bible, later to be called Sacred History or Holy Palmarian Bible (2001), would be developed, was known as the Second Palmarian Council and it ran from between 1995 and 2002.
As part of this reviewing process, members of the Palmarian Church, including the clergy, were asked to hand in their old Catholic bibles to be destroyed (which some opposed, saying that if they did so they could not even study Treatsie of the Mass, which references it throughout).[89][90] During this time, there had been a decline in numbers in the Palmarian Church and even among those who remained a significant number of believers, both religious (bishops and nuns) and sympathetic laymen, began to quietly doubt the Pope's mental health and conduct, questioning in particular the orthodoxy of the proposals of the Second Palmarian Council on the Bible (to be replaced with the "Sacred History") and other aspects, considering them rash changes.[87][91] This group also raised concerns about the more intense application of the Palmarian Moral Code, which they accused of moving the Palmarian Church away from the traditional moral and pastoral Catholic theology to a coercive rigorism, which induced extreme scrupulosity and forced family members to cut off all communications (i.e. - social shunning) with those who had been "legitimately excommunicated", rather than seeking their reconciliation.[92][93]
Pope Gregory XVII in his later reign called himself the "Apocalyptic Noah" and compared the numerically reduced, but defiant remnant, the Palmarian Church, to the Ark of Salvation.
As the Palmarian Catholic Church had moved toward the new millennium, the first signs of an internal issue had begun to emerge on 30 March 1995, as the Palmarian Cardinalate was suppressed, meaning there would not be a conclave after the Pope's death.[90] As the decade wore on, the dissident Palmarians began to discuss their concerns secretly among themselves, with burner phones and the like to hide their communications, though control over members had increased by this time, with strict rules on personal conduct beginning to be brought in.[94] Indiscreet communications led to the Palmarian leadership uncovering the dissident network. Fr. Sergio (Ginés Jesús Hernández) made his mark by playing a role in their "unmasking". A knife that was discovered in one of the rooms of the dissidents was presented to the Pope as part of a conspiracy to murder him. Fearful of a "coup", the Pope proclaimed on 24 October 2000, that Fr. Isidore (Corral) was to be his Papal successor.[95]
Finally, on the 5 November 2000, the matter of the dissidents came to a head: eighteen Palmarian bishops and seven Palmarian nuns were anathematised and excommunicated, expelled from the property and declared ex-Palmarian.[96] Ex-Fr. Isaac (José Antonio Perales Salvatella), the former confessor to the Pope[94] was declared as the heresiarch in chief, a new Martin Luther,[95] as a "founder of an anti-church or tenebrous sect", leader of a conspiracy to overthrow the Pope.[96] Many members of this group moved to Archidona, near Málaga and continued to proclaim themselves as Palmarians, but now sedevacantist, claiming that the Pope had fallen into error and lost the Chair of St. Peter.[93][97] Some even set up in Paraguay for a while.[98] Others, such as, Ex-Fr. Guido (Robert McCormack) and Ex-Fr. Dámaso (Juan Marquez), moved away from Palmarianism completely, declaring it a fraud and with the dawning of the internet became vocal anti-Palmarian activists.[99]
Pope Peter II died on July 15, 2011, after a long illness.[100] Pope Peter II was succeeded in 2011 by his Secretary of State, Fr. Sergio María (born Ginés Jesús Hernández), who took the name Pope Gregory XVIII. Earlier known as a hardliner, making several disciplinary rules on the community much stricter, towards the end of his papacy, he abolished some of them. For example, he allowed Palmarians to smoke, to go to the cinema (although immoral and pornographic films were still banned) and to talk to non-Palmarian people (as long as they had never been part of the church, not ex-Palmarians).[101]
Pope Gregory XVIII abdicated from his Papacy on 22 April 2016 to marry a Palmarian nun, Nieves Trivedi and was succeeded on 23 April 2016 by Fr. Eliseo María (born Joseph Odermatt), who was previously Pope Gregory XVIII's Secretary of State. A Swiss Palmarian and the first non-Spanish Palmarian Pope, he took Pope Peter III as his papal name.[102] Following his abdication, Ex-Pope Hernández told El País that he had apostatised from the Palmarian Catholic faith and claimed that the Palmarian Church "was all a hoax from the beginning" to profit from believers and supporters of the alleged apparitions of Our Lady of Palmar,[103][104]
Pope Peter III, fourth pope and primate of the Palmarian Christian Church
His successor, Pope Peter III, published an encyclical letter in response, in which he accused Ex-Pope Gregory XVIII of discrediting his former church in his interview and of stealing two million euros from the Palmarian Catholic Church, alongside several goods (including the Popemobile, a BMW X6): he subsequently declared him an apostate, excommunicated him and declared all of his acts to be null and void. Ex-Pope Gregory XVIII denied the charges of stealing.[105] He and his wife subsequently reconciled with the Vatican, as a layman.[103]
Pope Peter III disbanded the Papal Guard Corps instituted by his predecessor, deeming it unnecessary for his security.[106] In 2018 he travelled to the United States for the first time.[107] During his office, the Palmarian Christian Church established an online presence for the first time, opening a website and accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and a channel on YouTube.[108][109]
In 2020, Ex-Pope Gregory XVIII was interviewed by El Confidencial: during the interview he accused the Palmarian Christian Church of possessing large quantities of cash and even weapons in some hidden places of the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Crowned Mother of Palmar; he also regretted not disbanding the Palmarian Church while he was in charge, but predicted that it would soon collapse on its own.[110]
In January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, it was reported that there were 70 positives, including 4 deaths, within the church premises. The rate of COVID-19 cases in El Palmar was 3,713 cases/100,000 inhabitants, triggering confinement measures for the town in spite of the reduced contact between the church members and the rest of the town.[111] In September 2021, the Palmarian Catholic Church introduced new rules that made the wearing of anti-COVID masks compulsory to attend Mass.[112]
Last Judgement by Stefan Lochner. The Palmarians believe that Jesus Christ will return in the Second Coming for the Last Judgement, where all mankind will be judged and their final, eternal destination (heaven or hell) decided.
As with the Catholic Church historically, the Palmarian Church teaches that immediately after death, the soul of each human being is brought before Jesus Christ and receives a particular judgement, where they are judged by God based on their lives, they are accused with the sins that they committed (and whether or not they died in a state of sanctifying grace), their devotion and loyalty to God and membership of his One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Palmarians teach that those who die in a state of sanctifying grace are sent to the Planet of Mary, where sin is absent and the Church Militant waits here for the final battle against Antichrist. Likewise, the godless are sent to the Planet of Lucifer, where they are under the leadership of Satan, awaiting the final battle.[113] In the afterlife, following death, heaven, hell, purgatory and limbo are understood as different states, rather than physical locations.[113]
Supposedly, before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, comes the Antichrist. An in-depth and specific account of the Antichrist is given in the Palmarian Catechism.[113] The Palmarian Church teaches that a Beast of a woman, consecrated to Satan is brought up, as an Anti-Mary (the antithesis of the Blessed Virgin Mary), a false virgin from a Jewish background.[113] Both Satan and the Virgin Mary appear before her, as she is given the choice over becoming Satan's mother, with the former arguing for and the latter against, using her free will, the Anti-Mary chooses in the affirmative. She joins a "Jewish religious group involved in Satan worship" and eventually becomes their leader.[113] In a great Masonic Lodge, elaborately decorated with an inverted crucifix, she copulates on the altar with an apostate ex-Palmarian Bishop, dressed in his clerical attire.[113] Described as "extraordinarily beautiful and seductive", upon the completion of the act of fornication, the Anti-Mary immediately strangles the ex-Bishop and kills him (whereby he goes straight to hell). The Antichrist; Satan; is immediately conceived in the flesh and all of hell rejoices. The entire ceremony is witnessed by a group of leading 33rd degree Freemasons.[113]
Sacred Heart by José de Páez. According to the Palmarian Church, upon the final judgement, the elect are directly enthroned into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
The Church teaches a chronology of the apocalypse, based on the Book of Revelation and supplemented by visions received by Pope St. Gregory XVII the Very Great, as presented in the Sacred History and the Palmarian Catechism.[113] Palmarians believe the world is now in the end times, signified by the supposed Great Apostasy of Rome from the Catholic faith, through compromises with Protestantism and Freemasonry, with the Vatican-based Church becoming the Great Whore (as informed by Marian prophesies from Our Lady of La Salette onward). Thus, according to the Palmarian Church, the Antichrist was born in Jerusalem in the year 2000 and made a brief entry in the world in 2012. Physically, the False Messiah appears to be a man, but is literally Satan in the flesh and will persecute the true believers (the Palmarians). An epic final battle, the Armageddon, between Good and Evil will take place on Earth, whereby the inhabitants of the Planet of Mary and Planet of Lucifer return to fight for their respective sides. The wicked lose the contest and are cast into hell.[113]
The Palmarian Church teaches that, not long after this conflict, the bodies of the dead are raised and Jesus Christ returns to Earth in the Second Coming, where the final judgement of each individual human being takes place. He returns at Jerusalem, but is visible from all over the world.[113] At the conclusion of the final judgement, there will be only two destinations; the just, the elect who are saved, will be directly enthroned into the Sacred Heart of Christ and will live in glory in a blissful and heavenly state forever. Meanwhile, the wicked and the damned are enthroned into the dark heart of Satan, where they are to burn in hell, body and soul, tormented by demons for all eternity.[113]
Traditions
Documents and texts
Within the Palmarian Church, building on from the pre-1978 Magisterium of the Catholic Church, there is a heavy emphasis on documents which lay out the Palmarian Catholic teachings since then, which it considers the authentic continuation of the Catholic Magisterium. The Palmarian Church does not allow its religious works to be publicly sold for profit, but instead distributes them among its members free of charge, however, in the information age, many of these documents are now freely available on the internet for anybody to access. The core texts of the Church, following the move of the Holy See from Rome in 1978, are the Papal documents of Pope Gregory XVII, released between 1978 and 1980 (every Pope since has released documents, but these in particular are considered pivotal), the Palmarian Creed (1980), the Treatise of the Mass (1992) which was the end product of the First Palmarian Council and the Sacred History or Holy Palmarian Bible (2000-2001), the end product of the Second Palmarian Council, a reworking of the Catholic Bible.[114] In addition to this, there is a Palmarian Catechism,[115] which lays out the teachings for the faithful and a Palmarian Devotionary, which lays out the central pious practices and modes of worship.
As explained by professor Magnus Lundberg (Uppsala University), in 1997 Clemente Domínguez claimed that Elijah had appeared to him, claiming that the current Bible is "filled with errors that had been introduced by Judeo-Masonic groups through the centuries" and that it was his mission to revise it. Therefore, after 4 years of work, the Holy Palmarian Bible was published in five volumes in 2001, followed by a smaller two-volumes versions and an illustrated version for children. According to Lundberg, the changes were "dramatic": entire parts of the biblical books were omitted and numerous parts are "almost unrecognizable due to the allegorical and apocalyptical interpretations, which Gregory [i.e. Clemente Domínguez] claimed reflected the original intentions of the divine author. All of this makes the work very different from the traditional Bibles, both in structure and content" states Lundberg.[116] The Bible now used by the Palmarian Christian Church is not available in public libraries and is not available online. However, in 2018 Lundberg scanned one of the English versions and later published it on his blog.[116]
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Calvário by André Reinoso. For Palmarians, the Holy Mass is a propitiatory sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary, with the Virgin Mary suffering at the foot of the Cross, not a commemorative supper.
The very first proclamation of the Pontificate of Pope Gregory XVII, on 8 August 1978, reestablished the "Holy Latin Tridentine Mass of St. Pius V" as the obligatory liturgical form and anathematised the New Order of Mass as "confused, ambiguous, equivocal and heretical", forbidding the Palmarian Catholic faithful from serving at it, as well as forbidding the faithful from receiving the Holy Eucharist in the hand or standing.[72] The reason given for this was to emphasise the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice, the sacrifice of Calvary, something which it claimed the New Order lacked (as well as being "elaborated and confected by heretics").[72] Palmarian Papal documents pillory the New Order as a "Lutheran supper", suggesting the Vatican is now compromised by Protestant theological precepts.[72]
On 22 July 1980, Pope Gregory XVII reported a vision in which Pope Pius V appeared and advised him to make some alterations to the Tridentine Mass that he had originally promulgated in his papal bull Quo primum. From this year onward, their Mass began to be called the "Latin-Tridentine-Palmarian Rite".[117] Finally, on 9 October 1983, the Apostolic Constitution and Dogmatic Definitions promulgated the Holy Palmarian Mass of His Holiness Pope Gregory XVII. This briefer Mass, based on the Tridentine, is concentrated to three "essential" parts; the offertory, consecration and sacrificial communion, making it around five minutes long. Therefore, Palmarian Catholic clergy do not celebrate an individual Mass, but numerous turns of Masses.[117] The underlying reason for this revision, was that with so few Catholic priests in the world celebrating valid Masses, because of the introduction of the "illegitimate" (in Palmarian eyes) Novus Ordo and with so much atonement to God to be made for the sins of corrupted humanity, reducing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to its bare essentials would enable the sacrificing priesthood to be able to say many Masses consecutively. This was inlight of the First Palmarian Council and the Treatise on the Mass.
According to Palmarian doctrine, the body, soul and blood of Christ is present in the consecrated bread and wine. In addition to this, the Virgin Mary is spiritually and really present in the Holy Eucharist, as her suffering at the foot of the cross is seen as an essential component of the sacrifice of Calvary, which the Mass is as a propitiatory sacrifice. To communicate a person must be in a state of grace; otherwise, it constitutes a sacrilege. Communion should only be taken on the tongue and the recipient must be kneeling when receiving the sacrament. The communion of the faithful is only received in one species; they only receive the Eucharistic bread. If due to long distances to the nearest Palmarian priest, it is not possible to attend Mass, the faithful should pray a penitential rosary instead. According to the precepts of the church, Palmarians should take communion at least every third month, but almost all Masses in the Basilica in El Palmar de Troya are celebrated without lay people taking communion. Still, if in a state of grace, a layperson is allowed to communicate several times per day.[117]
The symbol of the Holy See, featuring the Papal tiara and keys of St. Peter, features on all official Palmarian Papal documents.
The Palmarian Church considers the Patriarchate of El Palmar de Troya to be the current Holy See of the Catholic Church and as part of this considers the legitimate apostolic predecessors of the Palmarian Pope to be all of the recognised Roman Pontiffs from Peter to Pope Paul VI. After this time, it considers Rome to have fallen into apostasy and all claimants in the Vatican City from Albino Luciani onwards to be non-Catholic Antipopes and "precursors to Antichrist". The Palmarian Church claim that, following the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978, Jesus Christ mystically elevated Clemente Domínguez to the papacy as Pope Gregory XVII and from this point on the Holy See has been located in El Palmar de Troya. The full title used by the Palmarian Pope is "Sovereign Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Servant of the servants of God, Patriarch of El Palmar de Troya, Herald of the Lord God of Hosts, Aflame with the Zeal of Elias." Other titles used by the Palmarian Pontiff include "King of the Universe", "Caudillo" and the "Great Tagus."[118]
To date, there have been four Popes in El Palmar de Troya and the current incumbent is Pope Peter III, since 2016. So far in the history of the Palmarian Church, the Secretary of State, who is selected by the sitting Pope, has been crowned as Papal successor following the death or vacation of the Papacy by its previous occupier (this has precedent from before 1059 in the Catholic Church when a Pope often had a hand in directly selecting his successor). The Palmarian Church had a College of Cardinals between 1978 and 1995, however it was never required to select a Pope in a conclave.
In a sermon delivered in August 2011, then Pope Gregory XVIII said that the Palmarian Church had between 1,000 and 1,500 members, but in the following years many were excommunicated. In 2015 the number of bishops was probably down to about 30 and the number of nuns were around 30. According to Magnus Lundberg, "except for at the very beginning, most new members were children of Palmarian couples and not people coming from outside". As of 2015[update], 32 bishops remained out of 192 men who were consecrated as bishops between 1976 and 2015, according to Lundberg.[119]: 27
Padre Pio was the first saint canonised by the Palmarian Catholic Church after 1978. He played an important role in the early appraitions of 1968 associated with Clemente.
The Palmarian Catholic Church counts among the saints of the Catholic Church, those canonised before 1978 by the Roman Catholic Church, but in addition, have since canonised over 1,000 more saints since that time. Many of those who they canonised, had already been beatified by previous Pontiffs. The first document dedicated to a Palmarian Papal canonisation proclaimed by the Palmarian Church was that of Padre Pio in the Tenth Document of Pope Gregory XVII on 12 September 1978.[124][72] Many more canonisations have taken place since, particularly between 1978 and 1980, mostly within the Papal documents of Pope Gregory XVII.[72] The most complete recorded collection of names of Palmarian saints is covered in the Palmarian Lives of the Saints (2012).[124]
One large category of people who were canonised, literally hundreds of named people, are the Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War (or in official Palmarian parlance, the "Holy Martyrs of the Holy Crusade Against Marxism in Spain"), which included a large number of bishops, priests and nuns who were killed during the Red Terror in Spain.[72] Aside from this, an "inumerable’ group of people", who fought on the nationalist side in the war were canonised, including a number of explicitly named political figures, including: Francisco Franco (Caudillo of Spain), Luis Carrero Blanco, José Antonio Primo de Rivera and José Calvo Sotelo.[72][125][126][44] Although categorising the war as a crusade, Pope Gregory XVII stated that not everybody who died on the nationalist side was a martyr or motivated by the defence of Christianity.[127] In 1980, the Palmarian Church declared that Francisco Franco was now a co-patron saint of Spain, alongside James the Great and Teresa of Ávila.[124]
An internet hoax claiming that the Palmarians had canonised Adolf Hitler originated on a fabricated Palmarian blogging site and was disseminated through Wikipedia and other media;[128] the Palmarian Catholic Church has denied the claim.[129] According to the religious studies scholar Magnus Lundberg, the leadership of the Palmarian Catholic Church treat the continued spread of the hoax as evidence that the media and the internet have been coopted by enemies of the church.[128]
The Palmarian Church has made public statements in Papal documents on various political philosophies and where relevant, has condemned what it holds as contradicting the Catholic faith and the Christian social order. Above all, the great bête noire in Palmarian pronouncements on modern society and politics is Freemasonry.[72] The term is used beyond the narrow scope of literal freemasons in Masonic Lodges and extends to all philosophical and political expressions of liberalism.[72] Freemasonry, which is portrayed as Satanic in nature, is accused of being the origin of both capitalism and communism, which, in their own ways, undermine God, the Christian conception of society and erect in its place a secularised and materialist world. Within this scheme, Protestants and others "heretical sects," are supposedly allied with unconverted Jews against the Mystical Body of Christ.[72]
Pope Leo XIII, declared "the Great", has been canonised and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by the Palmarian Church and they champion his Catholic social teaching based on Rerum Novarum.[72] Pope Gregory XVII anathematised and excommunicated the "errors of capitalism."[72] He declared that these errors had "brought corruption", that many capitalists belonged to masonry, that many capitalists invest money in support of pornography and anti-Christian propaganda.[72] The Palmarian Church teaches that capitalists can be denied communion of the Blessed Sacrament if it is publicly known that they defraud their workers of a fair wage (as one of the sins that cry to Heaven for Vengeance). The Palmarian Church condemned Marxism and declared that they "excommunicate all the members of the Church affiliated with Marxism or Communism, and as well all sympathisers with the perverse doctrine; also whoever engage in dialogue with those who declare themselves to be militant atheists," hundreds of Catholics persecuted by communists have been canonised by them, including Cardinal József Mindszenty and Pope Gregory XVII consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 22 August 1978.[72] The Palmarians also condemned the "evil national socialism of Hitler" and its "anti-Christian character" (for its "racial idolatry and omnipotence of the state") and it has canonised Catholics persecuted by them such as Rupert Mayer, Titus Brandsma, Maximilian Kolbe and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.[72]
We declare that capitalism is brother of marxism. Both fight against God. Both corrupt the world. Both poison mankind. Capitalism and marxism are the two extremes which meet at the apex: both are works of masonry, and masonry is the work of Satan. As we know, Satan is the ape of God. As he is an ape, he apes the things of God for his own benefit. God has founded the Church, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, which forms the Mystical Body of Christ. Satan has founded masonry, in which are incorporated marxists, capitalists, protestants and other heretical sects. All this apparatus forms one Mystical Satanic Body called Sionism, to which pertain the perfidious Jews, the deicide race, accursed.
The reconquest of Seville by St. Ferdinand III (Pope Gregory XVII claimed to be a lineal descendant and took his priestly name from him). The documents of the Palmarian Church teach that it is opposed to God to permit the "adoration of false gods or the practice of false religions."
In stark contrast to post-Vatican II Rome, the Palmarian Church is strongly opposed to religious liberty, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue (all of which are portrayed as a Masonic conspiracy, launched by Satan himself). Within the Twenty-Eighth Document of Pope Gregory XVII, it explicitly states that "Popes should launch holy Crusades against the heretics, until either they are converted or disappear persecuted to the ends of the earth. He who permits the adoration of false gods or the practice of false religion stands opposed to God."[72] A long list of "false" positions generally and religious views are systematically condemned in the Papal documents of the Palmarian Church. The Palmarians state that there has been excessive abuse of the phrase "separated brethren" to describe sects which broke away from the "true" Catholic Church, leading to confusion, thus these groups should be referred to instead as heretics (i. e. — Protestants) and schismatics. It admits, that, of all sects outside of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox are doctrinally the closest, but contain errors, that they need to accept the filioque and that they should be called the "Heterdox Church" until they change this and unite themselves under the universal jurisdiction of Supreme Pontiff at El Palmar de Troya.[72] A particularly strong scorn for ex-Palmarians and "Apostate Rome" is present throughout their teachings (both portrayed as villainous traitors).
In the Second Vatican Council, of unhappy memory for the Church, was promulgated the cursed law of religious liberty in open opposition to Holy Scripture, in flagrant contradiction to the common teaching of the great and holy Doctors, in brazen contempt of the Infallible Magisterium of the Church. This cursed and monstrous law of religious liberty is opposed to the definitions of innumerable predecessors of Ours. Speaking of contumacious heretics, Saint John the Evangelist says: "With heretics, do not break bread." These words of God suffice to invalidate and anathematize the law of religious liberty promulgated by the Second Vatican Council.
Non-Christian worldviews and religious teachings such as atheism, paganism, "Mohammedanism" (though Palmarian Popes have stated that Catholics should match their fanatical dedication to religion) and Rabbinic Judaism are also condemned. Nostra aetate from the invalidated Vatican II is reverse engineered in the Fourth and Thirty-Eighth Documents of Pope Gregory XVII, which proclaims that "unconverted Jews" are explicitly the "deicide people" and "perfidious" until they become Catholic.[72] Despite this strong criticism, Pope Gregory XVII admitted to some Jewish admixture in the Spanish nation (and likely in his own distant ancestry) and did not see this as problematic.[81] Leading only to further justification for a fervent endorsement of Spanish nationalism; for Domínguez, Spain could legitimately claim a connection to the Old CovenantIsraelites through the Sephardim and now that had been superseded by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, the Spanish nation remained loyal to God as the zealous bulwark of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church through the Reconquista, into the Counter-Reformation, fending off Protestantism and Freemasonry, and now had been gifted the Papacy at El Palmar de Troya, after the apostasy of Rome itself.[81]
The Palmarian Church claims that the Pope has supreme spiritual power and temporal power, all the world being subject to him, that the Pope can distribute lands, depose kings and appoint kings. Citing as a clear historical example of this, it points to Pope Pius V's Regnans in Excelsis in which he excommunicated and deposed Elizabeth Tudor ("pretended Queen of England"). As part of their eschatological beliefs, the Palmarian prophesies, linking in with the concept of the Great Catholic Monarch, foretells of the literal establishment of a great Hispanic-Palmarian Empire, over which the Palmarian Pope will reign as Emperor and fight the Antichrist.[79] A specific Palmarian exercise of the power to depose and appoint kings, is denoted in the Twenty-Eighth Document, in which Pope Gregory XVII admits that Pope Hadrian IV had granted Ireland to England as an evangelising power, but the moment the English Crown fell into heresy, it forever lost sovereignty over her and now "since Ireland has no Catholic King, the Pope holds direct power over her until he provides a Catholic king."[72]
Notes
^Although compared to their presence in Europe and Latin America (as well as later Africa), the Palmarian following in the United States was modest in terms of numbers, they had a localised spike in Wisconsin. In 1949, at Necedah there had been Marian apparitions witnessed by Mary Ann Van Hoof (1909–1984), which the Vatican did not accept. Thus a groundwork had been prepared before the Palmarians arrived in the town. The Necedah Shrine, known officially as Queen of the Holy Rosary, Mediatrix of Peace Shrine, exists in the town.
^Revaz, interested in mythical theories, shared the same belief as the Palmarians on the status of Pope Paul VI: not only was he a true Pope, but a great victim soul, who was being held hostage in the Vatican by the freemasons who had supposedly infiltrated the Curia. In this conspiratorial telling, these freemasons were supposedly drugging the Pope and in some cases forging his signature on heterodox documents, including for the New Mass. He even proposed to Lefebvre a "mission" to rescue the Pope, but this was dismissed.Lundberg 2020, p. 74
^Lundberg, Magnus (2016-05-01) [first posted 2016-04-22]. "The Palmarian Pope has resigned and is succeeded by Peter III". magnuslundberg.net (blog). Uppsala, Sweden: Magnus Lundberg. Archived from the original on 2016-05-03. Retrieved 2016-05-03. (Content has been added since the first posted date)
^Lundberg, Magnus (2015). "Modern alternative popes"(PDF). uu.diva-portal.org. Uppsala University Library. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
^Garvey, Geoff; Ellingham, Mark (2009). Andalucía (6th ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 335. ISBN9781843530688.
^As regards the bishops, from 1976 to 2005, under the pontificate of Gregory XVII, a total of 192 bishops were consecrated, but in less than thirty years 133 of them were expelled from the organisation for apostasy or voluntarily withdrew from the Palmarian Catholic Church, thus being excommunicated and losing their positions (Palmarian Catholic Church)
^"Lies and Calumnies". Official Website of the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face in company with Jesus and Mary.
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Gómez Burón, Joaquín; Martín Alonso, Antonio (1976). El enigma de El Palmar de Troya. Personas. ISBN8440012454.
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A list of all the congregations, notable members, priories, churches, and convents of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Carmelites)
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