Modern Alternative Popes 20: A Papal Hoax

 The Catholic Apostolic Remnant Church

This church with its alleged centre in Argentina is a complicated matter. Or not. The thing is that the church does not exist in reality. It is an internet hoax. The “church” has never been able to proof its existence despite claiming to have a large number of cardinals, bishops and priests, so it should be considered a hoax. Still, the Remnant Church has very active web pages, and the alleged pope publishes many formal documents. Consequently, it’s created by a person or a group with much knowledge of this type of traditionalist group. It is a well-constructed hoax.  According to the creators since 2006, three men have been pontiffs of the Catholic Apostolic Remnant Church.

Oscar Michaelli (Leo XIV 2006-2008) was born in 1983 in the province of Buenos Aires. Having had a vision that he should become a priest, he joined the Sociedad de Nuestra Señora de la Compasión in Moreno, where he became known as Oscar de la Compasión. After a brief period, Adolphe George Cantor and Mario Cornejo of the Santa María Church ordained him a priest and consecrated him a bishop, both in 2005. A new religious order, the Orden de Nuestra Señora de la Compasión was initiated on 1 April 2005, when he, as the superior general, issued a “Declaration on the Sede Vacante”, subscribing to a sedevacantist position.

On 24 March 2006, a conclave of the Catholic Apostolic Remnant Church elected Oscar de la Compasión pope and he took the name, Leo XIV. Just thereafter, he and the other bishops of the order were consecrated sub conditione by John William Blackhill, Raphaël Cloquell and Raúl Francisco Tejada.

From Blackhill, Leo XIV claimed apostolic succession through a number Armenian and later British-Armenian prelates, including Charles Leslie Saul, who in 1945 was given the title and position of Archbishop of Suthronia in the Eparchy of All the Britons. Saul consecrated Herman Philippus Abbinga as Missionary Bishop for Holland and Indonesia, who consecrated Perry Nikolaus Cedarholm, Bishop of Scandinavia for The Apostolic Episcopal Church. Cedarholm in his turn consecrated Nils Bertil Alexander Persson who later was enthroned as Primate of The Apostolic Episcopal Church, and it was Persson who was the consecrating bishop of John William Blackhill, who later turned sedevacantist.

The apostolic succession of Bishop Cloquell of the Église Catholique Latine Traditionelle is through the Thuc lineage via Michel Louis Guérard des Lauriers, Robert Fidelis McKenna and Oliver Oravec. Bishop Tejada’s apostolic succession is from The Syrian Patriarchate of Antioch through the rich lineage of Joseph Rene Vilatte of The American Catholic Church. Vilatte consecrated John Barwell Walker, who consecrated Emile Federico Rodriguez y Fairfield of the Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox Church of the Americas, who became the consecrator of Raúl Francisco Tejada.

According to the church’s own data, on 16 March 2007, Pope Leo was shot but survived the attack. Later in the year, however, he became severely ill and died of cancer 2 February 2008.

Juan Bautista Bonetti (Innocent XIV, 7 March–24 May 2008) is an Argentinean, born in 1957. He was ordained a priest 5 July 2006 by Emilio Javier de la Compasión and consecrated a bishop 12 August 2007 by Aristoteles Cardinal Papaloupos. On 7 March 2008, he was elected pope at a conclave but was much criticised for modernism, and a majority of the members of the order left Moreno for Villa María, Cathedral Nuestra Señora de la Compasión. Innocent XIV was forced to leave the papacy on 24 May 2008.

Alejandro Greico (Alexander IX, 24 May 2008-) was born in 1983, in Buenos Aires, Alejandro de la Compasión ordained in 2005 by Oscar de la Compasión consecrated in 2007 by the same. On 24 May 2008, he was elected pope of the Remnant Church. It now claims to have bishops in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

References

The Church’s official website: http://icaremanente.webcindario.com/

The Church’s official blog: http://icaremanente.blogspot.com.ar/