In 2015, I started the Alternative Pope Project. The goal was to identify and study individuals who, during the 20th and 21st centuries, claimed that they, and not the more well-known figure in Rome, were the true leader of the Catholic Church. To refer to them, I coined the term alternative popes.
I soon realized that it would be difficult to find sources about many of the claimants, as little material is found in research libraries. To solve the problem, I created this website. Initially, I wrote brief posts on the papal claimants I knew, asking for more information.
I was amazed by the feedback. Over the past almost ten years, several thousand people have contacted me. Many have asked questions, wanting to know more, and many have helped me access source material or shared their experiences as (former) members of these groups. With their help, I have been able to amass considerable material, and I have been able to publish several more substantial texts that, in their turn, have led to new contacts and even more sources.
This project’s final outcome will be a sizeable monograph: Could the True Pope Please Stand Up: 20th and 21st-Century Alternative Popes. Hopefully, I will be able to finish it in 2026, thus ending a decade-long project.
To date, I have produced five monographs, five group profiles, and more than a dozen research reports listed below. I have also published ca. 50 blog posts, including brief studies on alternative popes and scanned sources.
Monographs
A Pope of their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church. (Uppsala Studies in Church History, vol. 1) Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2017, 247 pp.
Giuseppe Maria Abbate: The Italian-American Celestial Messenger. [Co-authored with James W. Craig],(Uppsala Studies in Church History 7). Uppsala: Uppsala University, Department of Theology, 2018, 115 pp.
A Pope of their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church. Second Edition (Uppsala Studies in Church History, vol. 11), Uppsala: Uppsala University, Department of Theology, 2020. 267 pp.
Är påven katolik? Traditionalistiska variationer på ett tema [Is the Pope Catholic? Traditionalist Variations on a Theme], (Uppsala Studies in Church History, vol. 16), Uppsala: Uppsala: Uppsala University, Department of Theology, 2024, 80 pp.
A Polish-American Pope: Adam Oraczewski ‒ Adam II (Uppsala Studies in Church History, vol. 19), Uppsala: Uppsala University, Department of Theology, 2024, 69 pp.
Group Profiles
Holy Apostolic Catholic Palmarian Church, [15 pp.], World Religions and Spirituality Project, updated version, 2018 (www.wrldrels.org).
New Jerusalem Catholic Church of the Celestial Messenger, [15 pp.], World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2020 (www.wrldrels.org).
Apostles of Infinite Love, [20 pp.], World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2020 (www.wrldrels.org).
Pope Michael, [25 pp], World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2023.
Research Reports
Palmar de Troya – Palmarian Catholic Church, 60 pp, published as part of the World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2015 (www.wrldrels.org).
Modern Alternative Popes, 64 pp, 2015.
‘Julius Tischler’: The Future Peter II, 8 pp, 2018.
Adam Oraczewski: Pope Adam II, 16 pp, 2018.
The Faithful Remnant and the Last Canadian Pope, 21 pp, 2018.
The Slavic Pope?: Jan Maria Michał Kowalski and the Mariavites, 22 pp, 2019.
Baby Jesus, Pontiff Samuele, and The Universal Christian Church of the New Jerusalem in Gallinaro, Italy, 30 pp, 2020.
Pope Christophe XVIII and La Très Sainte Église de Jésus-Christ, Mission de Banamè in Benin, 23 pp, 2020.
Eduardo Dávila – Eduardo I: Pope and Supreme Pontiff of Mexico and the Americas, 28 pp, 2021.
Chester Olszewski – Chriszekiel Elias – Peter II: The Pope of Eddystone, Pennsylvania, 25 pp, 2022.
Maurice Archieri (1923–2016): The Vicar of Christ in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, 50 pp, 2023.
The Invisible Pope: Linus II and the 1994 Assisi Conclave, 26 pp, 2023.
Francis Schuckardt, the Papacy, and the Apocalypse, 49 pp, 2024.
Valdir Ros-Pedro II: The Pope of Nova Iguaçu, Brazil, 30 pp, 2024.
Franz Engelhardt: The Fourth Seer of Fatima and the Future Pope Peter II, 21 pp, 2025.
For all texts, including brief blog posts, see
https://magnuslundberg.net/category/modern-alternative-popes/
https://magnuslundberg.net/category/palmarian-catholic-church/
Magnus Lundberg 
There is another sir in USA that proclaimed himself Pope with the name of Jacobus I. He is always uploading videos (thetrueholyapostolicsee.org). But I couldn’t find any previous information about him.
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Yes, I have watched his videos and read some document, but I don’t know anything about him
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I did not know he was American. Seems learned but fails to tell us who elected him. Or did he appoint himself?
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He has clothes pegs holding back the curtains in his chapel. No further comment needed!
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I am looking forward to the book, but I think the title should be “Will the Real True Pope Please stand up”. That will make it fit the original from the “To Tell the Truth” gameshow that originated the phrase – and also make it rhythmically fit Eminem’s version of the phrase.
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Thanks!
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