Author: Magnus Lundberg

Legio Maria: Early History

Legio Maria: Early History

Beyond a doubt, Legio Maria — now formally Legio Maria of Africa Church Mission — founded in Kenya around 1962 is the largest of the groups with an alternative pope. While it is difficult to compute membership, the Kenyan government estimates that there are as many as 3 or even 4 million Legios in Kenya alone. Legio Maria should not be confused with the Roman Catholic lay organisation, Legion of Mary, also known as Legio Mariae. Still, many of the founding members of the Kenyan Legio had backgrounds in the Legion of Mary and viewed it as a precursor to their movement.

Established in the Nyanza province in the early 1960s, Legio Maria soon spread to other parts of the country and abroad, both within Africa and, to a lesser extent, overseas. Legio Maria has its roots in Roman Catholicism but, following the metropolitan model, has developed its own ecclesiastical hierarchy, including a pope. The Legios use the traditional Latin Order of the Mass in a pre-1962 version, but also have a clear focus on charismatic gifts available to ordinary believers, not only to holders of formal offices.

Legios believe that the founder, Simeo Ondeto (1926?–1991), was divine. He was the Second Coming of Christ. Therefore, the faithful refer to him as Baba Messias, Baba Simeo Melkio, and similar varieties of that name, ‘Baba’ meaning Father. They also revere Mama Maria or Bikira Maria († 1966), originally known as Regina Owitch, whom they see as the Virgin Mary and Baba Messias’s spiritual mother. Because of their supernatural origins, Baba Messias and Mama Maria held unique positions.

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Antonio Possevino’s Writings, vol. III: Il Soldato Christiano (1583)

Antonio Possevino’s Writings, vol. III: Il Soldato Christiano (1583)

This book, edited by Dr Andreas Mazetti Petersson, constitutes the third volume of Antonio Possevino’s Writings, published in the Uppsala Studies in Church History ebook series. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part contains the transcription of Antonio Possevino’s (1533–1611) Il Soldato Christiano. The second is a study by the editor to help the reader understand the rhetorical tools used in the text.

The full title of Possevino’s book is Il Soldato Christiano con l’istruttione de’ capi dell’essercito catolico. Composto da Antonio Possevino della Compagnia di Giesù. Libro necessario à chi desidera sapere i mezi per acquistar vittoria contra heretici, turchi, & altri infedeli.

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The Alternative Pope Project

The Alternative Pope Project

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.

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New Book on Catholic Traditionalists and the Papacy

New Book on Catholic Traditionalists and the Papacy

My new book Is the Pope Catholic? Variations on a Traditionalist Theme is a translation of a book I wrote in Swedish in 2024. It is part of the ebook series Uppsala Studies in Church History, available open-access (see link below).

‘Traditionalist Catholics’ rarely call themselves traditionalists. In this study, I still use the concept to refer to individuals and groups who, to varying degrees, oppose the decisions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and the post-conciliar developments in the Catholic Church. The term is thus analytical and almost universally accepted by scholars.


The ‘traditionalists’ see themselves as Catholics, or traditional Catholics, and emphatically claim that it is the church leadership, or at least its majority, that has departed from traditional Catholic doctrine, not them. They adhere to the so-called Tridentine Mass, the Roman Rite of 1570 (albeit in revised versions), and oppose the new Order of Mass, promulgated in 1969 and commonly called the Novus Ordo, which they consider to include substantial changes and therefore unacceptable. For them, Traditionalist Catholicism is just true Catholicism.

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The 50th Anniversary of the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face

The 50th Anniversary of the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face

Today, December 23, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of the Order of the Carmelites of the Holy Face, the congregation that today forms part of the Palmarian Catholic Church, based at El Palmar de Troya, an apparition site in Spanish Andalusia. The Church was founded in 1978, when the superior of the Orden, Clemente Domínguez y Gómez (1946-2005) proclaimed that he was true pope of the Catholic Church and the Holy See was transferred to El Palmar de Troya/Seville. Still, the foundation of the Order was an important step.

Throughout the last decade, I have published much about the Palmarian Church, and the following is an extract from my book A Pope of their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church (1st edition 2017, 2nd edition 2020)

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Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 7.

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 7.

This is the seventh and last part of the series of images from the archives of Italian-American Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963), the Celestial Messenger, who claimed to be divine. For more pictures and studies, see the Celestial Messenger page.

The focus of Abbate’s Church, the New Jerusalem Church, was his claims of divine status and his role in salvation history. From the early 1910s, he was known as the Celestial Messenger. Later, his title became Padre Celeste. Still, he also referred to himself as the Universal Protector, St. Michael the Archangel rehumanated, the Prince of Peace, God’s Vicar on Earth, and the Celestial King. Thus, Abbate claimed to be something of a combination of a pope, an archangel, a prophet, a king, and God incarnate.

In his interpretation, each first letter in his full name and title, “Giuseppe Maria Abbate di Carmelo, Padre Celeste”, had a symbolic meaning in Italian, summarizing his mission on earth. In English translation, it was: Jesus, Incarnate, Made Human, Most Holy Immanuel, Eternal Prince of Peace, sent to be reincarnated in Abbate to Bless Everybody Eternally. Divinity Incarnate. Celestial Angel, King, Immanuel, the Messiah Arrived, the Ordained Angel. The Door to God. Elected Religious. Christ, Immanuel, Eternal Light, the Sound of the Seventh Trumpet.

While he believed he possessed supernatural powers already from the beginning of the 1910s, in 1923, Abbate claimed that Christ had appeared to him, showing him the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. From that moment, Abbate was convinced that he was “Jesus rehumanated.” His face was the true face of Christ in the modern era. At the same time, Abbate began to claim that he had lived on Mars before coming to Earth in 1886.

Continue reading “Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 7.” →

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 6.

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 6.

This is the sixth part of my series of images of Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963), the Italian-American Celestial Messenger. See part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5. It includes photos of objects found in my collection related to Abbate and his New Jerusalem Catholic Church. These objects include a trumpet, two processional swords, and a box containing relics (mainly hair, beard, and nail clippings).

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Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 5.

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 5.

This is the fifth part of my series of images of Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963), the Italian-American Celestial Messenger. They are part of my collection of documents related to Abbate and his New Jerusalem Catholic Church. See part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.

Most of the photos in the collection depict the Celestial Messenger, the Reincarnated Virgin Mary, and religious ceremonies or objects related to them. Copies of these pictures were held by Church members and were also part of Abbate’s missionary activities, distributed to potential adherents. Some were also printed in the Church’s newspaper, L’Araldo, published between 1926 and 1928, as well as in brochures and booklets.

However, the collection also includes other photos documenting members, both individuals and groups. There are, e.g., pictures of the Celestial Messenger’s honorary guard, members of the girls’ and boys’ groups, nuns, religious brothers, and ordinary faithful.

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Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 4.

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 4.

This post is the fourth part of my series of images of Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963), the Italian-American Celestial Messenger. They are part of my collection of documents related to Abbate and his New Jerusalem Catholic Church. See part 1, part 2, and part 3.

However, in this part, the focus is not on Abbate, but on a girl, Grace, whom he and his Church believed to be the reincarnated Virgin Mary. Grace was born in Chicago in 1915. Both her parents were born in Italy and had recently emigrated to the United States. When she was newly born, Abbate became convinced of her true identity.

Just as Abbate, the reborn Virgin Mary, took a prominent place in religious services, both sitting on thrones. Grace left the church when she was about 18 years old, but her image remained on the church’s altars until the 1980s.

Continue reading “Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 4.” →

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 3.

Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 3.

This post is the third part of my series of images of Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963), the Italian-American Celestial Messenger. They are part of my collection of documents related to Abbate and his Church. See part one and part two.

The focus of the New Jerusalem Church doctrine was Abbate’s claims of divine status and his role in salvation history. By the late 1910s, Abbate called himself Giuseppe Maria di Carmelo Abbate. When the Church was founded, he was referred to as Celestial Messenger (Messaggiero Celeste).

Later, his title became Padre Celeste. Still, he also referred to himself as the Universal Protector, St. Michael the Archangel, the Prince of Peace, God’s Vicar on Earth, and the Celestial King. Thus, Abbate claimed to be something of a combination of a pope, an archangel, a prophet, a king, and God incarnate.

Continue reading “Images of the Celestial Messenger. Part 3.” →