Palmarian Christian Church

The Palmarian Church (), officially registered as the Palmarian Christian Church and also known as the Palmarian Catholic Church, is a Christian church with an episcopal see in El Palmar de Troya, Andalusia, Spain. The Palmarian Church claims to be the exclusive One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. It claims that the Holy See, the institution of the Papacy and the headquarters of the Catholic Church was moved to El Palmar de Troya at the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Crowned Mother of Palmar, under the auspices of the Patriarchate of El Palmar de Troya, in 1978, due to the apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church from the Catholic faith.

The origins of the Palmarians as a distinct body can be traced back to the alleged 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 four subsequent Palmarian Popes and the one currently reigning since 2016 is Pope Peter III. Critical scholars, journalists and former followers almost universally describe the organization as a cult. Members are expected not to watch any films or television, vote or read newspapers. They also engage in heavy shunning of former members and are not allowed to talk to people unrelated to the Palmarian Catholic Church. Provided by Wikipedia