The Christian Palmarian Church of the Carmelites of the Holy Face is a schismatic group founded in 1978 in El Palmar de Troya (Seville, Spain), originating from alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary that began in 1968. Its founder and first “pope”, Clemente Domínguez y Gómez (who self-proclaimed as Gregory XVII), claimed that after the death of Paul VI, the true Chair of Peter was transferred from Rome to El Palmar de Troya, alleging that the Roman Catholic Church had fallen into apostasy due to the Second Vatican Council. The Catholic Church declared the movement schismatic and heretical, excommunicating its leaders since 1976.
Currently, the group has about 2,000 faithful, a massive fortified cathedral-basilica, and extremely rigid rules, including bans on television, the internet, and modern clothing. Its popes have been: Gregory XVII (1978–2005), Peter II (2005–2011), Gregory XVIII (2011–2016, who abandoned the position and denounced the movement as a fraud), and the current Peter III (Joseph Odermatt, since 2016).
🤲 Main Apostolic Lineage
The Palmarian apostolic succession originates from the Vietnamese Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục, a radical traditionalist who, in January 1976, ordained priests and consecrated bishops Clemente Domínguez and his collaborators in El Palmar de Troya, without a pontifical mandate. This consecration, although materially valid (since Thục possessed legitimate Catholic apostolic succession), was declared schismatic by the Holy See. From that event onwards, the Palmarians consecrated dozens of bishops (approximately 192 between 1976 and 2005), establishing an internal hierarchy that is completely closed off and independent from Rome.
💔 Main Derived Groups
Over the years, various bishops and faithful have broken away from the Palmarian Church but retained the episcopal lineage derived from Ngô Đình Thục via Clemente Domínguez. The most relevant movements are:
The first significant schism occurred as early as 1976, led by the visionary Jesús Hernández Martínez and the missionary Félix Arana. They accused Domínguez of illicit enrichment and falsifying celestial messages. This group, known as “La Cruz Blanca” (The White Cross), remained focused on the original apparitions of El Palmar de Troya, and years later, part of it reconciled with the Catholic Church.
Between 2000 and 2001, the so-called “Great Expulsion” took place. About 18 bishops and 30 religious members were expelled or left the movement for rejecting new doctrines (such as the Palmarian “purified Bible”) and for denouncing alleged financial embezzlement of millions of euros. Many took refuge in Archidona (Málaga), forming an independent sedevacantist church that preserves the traditional Tridentine Mass but does not recognize Palmarian popes or the popes of Rome after Pius XII.
Another significant branch emerged in Ireland in 1977, when Clemente Domínguez consecrated Father Michael Patrick Cox. After breaking with El Palmar de Troya, Cox founded the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, a small independent traditionalist group claiming valid apostolic succession without communion with Rome.
There are also smaller groups scattered across Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Latin America, formed by former Palmarian bishops (such as Maurice Revaz or Alfred Seiwert-Fleige) or by clergy who received conditional re-consecrations from these dissidents. Examples include the Luso-Hispanic Apostolic Church and some isolated sedevacantist communities that use the Thục-Palmarian lineage solely to ensure the validity of sacraments, while rejecting the theology and “papacy” of El Palmar.
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