The Cult Dossier · No. 106 · Christian-Derived

Palmarian Catholic Church

Christian Palmarian Church of the Carmelites of the Holy Face

1975 – present · El Palmar de Troya, Seville, Spain

XII. THE WIDER FIELD — CONCISE ENTRIES

Fully religious — Catholic schism with its own antipope

Who led it

CLEMENTE DOMÍNGUEZ Y GÓMEZ (1946–2005), who took the name POPE GREGORY XVII after claiming visions of the Virgin at a lentil field. Blinded in a car crash in May 1976 that cost him both eyes. Successors: Manuel Alonso Corral (Peter II), Ginés Jesús Hernández (Gregory XVIII, who left in 2016 and renounced it all), and Joseph Odermatt (Peter III).

What it worshipped and taught

Marian apparitions at El Palmar; the belief that Paul VI was drugged and imprisoned in the Vatican and that the Holy See was transferred to El Palmar in 1978. Extreme rules: no television, no newspapers, women fully covered, no contact with non-members, the canonisation of figures including Francisco Franco and Queen Isabel of Spain.

Who was in it

Clemente Domínguez; Manuel Alonso Corral; Ginés Jesús Hernández; Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục of Vietnam, who ordained the first Palmarian priests on 31 December 1975, consecrated five of them as bishops on 11 January 1976, and was excommunicated for it.

How it ended, or where it stands

ACTIVE, AND MUCH SMALLER THAN THIS FILE SAID. It had put membership at roughly 10,000. Current estimates are 1,000 TO 2,000 worldwide, most of them outside Spain; the church itself claimed 1,000–1,500 in 2011. It remains among the best-known conclavist churches. In 2025 it opened its basilica to outsiders for the first time in decades, and in 2026 its pope spoke directly to the crisis in the SSPX.

The dead

—

Of note

The most complete example of a rival papacy in the modern era.

Its timeline

1968 Claimed apparitions of the Virgin begin at El Palmar de Troya.
11 JANUARY 1976 Archbishop Thục consecrates five men, Domínguez among them, as bishops.
6 August 1978 On Paul VI's death, Domínguez declares himself pope.
2005 Dies; succession continues.
22 APRIL 2016 GREGORY XVIII ABDICATES, saying he has lost his faith, and leaves with the former nun NIEVES TRIVIÑO, whom he later marries. His successor's encyclical accuses him of taking two million euros and goods including a BMW X6; HERNÁNDEZ DENIES IT.
22 APRIL 2016 MARKUS JOSEF ODERMATT, a Swiss national born 13 March 1966 in Stans, Canton of Nidwalden, becomes the FOURTH Palmarian pope as PETER III.
12 OCTOBER 2025 AN UNPRECEDENTED OPEN-DOOR EVENT at El Palmar de Troya, staged as part of a self-declared Jubilee Year paralleling the Roman Catholic one. Hundreds of visitors from Spain and abroad enter a basilica that had been sealed to outsiders for decades — a sharp reversal of the church's founding posture of total separation. The night ended in a death: a one-year-old German girl was struck by a van reversing after the procession, driven by a member; Spanish police called it a tragic accident.
MID-JULY 2026 After the Holy See declares the SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X schismatic, Odermatt releases a multi-part recorded message calling the Society's position inconsistent for recognising a pope it says Catholics must disobey. The Palmarian Church rejects Leo XIV as an antipope.

Its people

Clemente Domínguez y Gómez

Pope Gregory XVII

Antipope, Palmarian Catholic Church · 23 April 1946 – 22 March 2005 · active 1975–2005

Claimed visions of the Virgin at a lentil field near Seville, was validly consecrated a bishop in 1976 by the excommunicated Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục, and on Paul VI's death in 1978 declared himself pope. He was blinded in a 1976 car crash, which he said made him more like Christ. He canonised Franco and Columbus, banned television and newspapers for members, and required women to be fully covered. His second successor abandoned the church in 2016 and described the whole thing as a fraud.

Before the law. Excommunicated by the Catholic Church. No criminal proceedings.

Where things stand. Deceased 2005. A tiny remnant remains in a fortified basilica.

1968 Claimed apparitions begin at El Palmar de Troya.
1976 Consecrated bishop by Archbishop Thục, who is excommunicated for it.
6 August 1978 Declares himself pope on Paul VI's death.
22 March 2005 Dies; the antipapal line continues.
2016 His second successor abandons the church and calls it a fraud.

Checked 2026-08-24

Ginés Jesús Hernández

Pope Gregory XVIII

Third antipope, Palmarian Catholic Church — who renounced it · born 1959 · active 2011–2016

Elected the Palmarian church's third pope in 2011, he abandoned it entirely in 2016, left with a nun he later married, and publicly described the whole institution as a fraud — stating that he had never believed the apparitions and that the church existed to extract money. He is one of very few leaders in this dossier to repudiate his own movement from the inside and say plainly that it was false.

Before the law. Accused by the church of taking funds; Spanish proceedings did not produce a significant conviction.

Where things stand. Living, outside the church — AND THIS FILE PREVIOUSLY LEFT IT AT THAT, WHICH OMITS THE ENTIRE AFTERMATH. He was the THIRD PALMARIAN POPE, reigning as GREGORY XVIII from 15 JULY 2011 until his ABDICATION ON 22 APRIL 2016, when he left both the papacy and the church for his partner NIEVES TRIVIÑO, whom he later married. He then PUBLICLY DECLARED THE WHOLE CHURCH A HOAX. IN JUNE 2018 THE COUPLE CLIMBED THE COMPOUND WALL AT EL PALMAR DE TROYA IN AN ATTEMPT TO ROB THE BASILICA. In the fight that followed, TWO PALMARIAN BISHOPS AND BOTH INTRUDERS WERE WOUNDED AND HERNÁNDEZ WAS STABBED IN THE CHEST. In MAY 2019 the two were sentenced to SIX AND FIVE YEARS respectively, BUT RELEASED DIRECTLY ON PROBATION. Nothing consulted establishes his circumstances after 2020.

2011 Elected Pope Gregory XVIII.
April 2016 Abandons the church; leaves with a nun, whom he marries.
2016 Publicly renounces the church as a fraud and denies the apparitions.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

The Atlas The Door