The Alternative Pope Project

In 2015 I started the Alternative Pope Project. The goal was to identify and study people who, during the 20th and 21st centuries, claimed that they, and not the vastly more known man 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. Trying to solve the problem, I constructed this website. Initially, I wrote brief posts on the papal claimants I knew, asking for more information.

I was amazed by the feedback. During the almost eight years that have passed, 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 2025, thus ending a decade-long project.

To date, I have produced three 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.

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.

Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church, World Religions and Spirituality Project, forthcoming 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

Bishop Francis Schuckardt and the Papacy, ca. 40 pp, forthcoming 2023

For all texts, including brief blog posts, see

https://magnuslundberg.net/category/modern-alternative-popes/

https://magnuslundberg.net/category/palmarian-catholic-church/

magnus.lundberg@teol.uu.se