Adam Oraczewski ‒ Pope Adam II

Towards the end of 1927, a suspended Roman Catholic priest, Adam Anthony Oraczewski (1883‒1973) published a 60-page pamphlet in Kansas City, Missouri. It has a bold title, All in One True Faith and the front page features the author dressed in the papal white, declaring that since August 7, he was Adam II, Pope of the Holy Catholic Church.

Among the modern alternative popes, Polish-American Adam II is certainly among the least known and one of the earliest. He lived until he was 90, but we have relatively few sources to his life and even less on his papacy. However, thanks to the two booklets, a few newspaper articles, and some official records, it is possible to write a brief biography. Still, many lacunae and uncertainties remain. Therefore, any further information on Adam Anthony Oraczewski is most welcome.

The preliminary version of the biography is found here

New Book on The Celestial Messenger of Chicago: Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963)

Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886‒1963) was one of the many Italians who immigrated to the United States in the early twentieth century. However, his career in the new country would become quite unusual. Not only did he found a new religious group, the New Jerusalem Catholic Church in Chicago (1917), but he also claimed that he was a divinely elected Celestial Messenger and even the Celestial Father, God incarnate. Though a few authors have mentioned Abbate in passing, this is the first detailed investigation about him and his religious movement.

In the book Giuseppe Maria Abbate: The Italian-American Celestial Messenger (2018), Professor Magnus Lundberg (Uppsala) and Fr. James W. Craig (Chicago) present aspects of Giuseppe Maria Abbate’s biography, his religious claims, and mission as well as the history of the New Jerusalem Catholic Church, which he founded. The outline is chronological mainly, following Abbate from his birth in 1886 until his death in 1963, but with a clear focus on the period from the late-1910s onwards, when he appeared as a religious leader. It also includes an investigation of the congregation’s development after the founder’s death and the legacy of the Celestial Messenger.

The book is part of the Uppsala Studies in Church History e-book series that is published in the Department of Theology, Uppsala University. The full-text is available here

For a photo reportage on the Celestial Messenger in La Settimana INCOM Illustrata from 1950.

The Faithful Remnant and the Canadian Last Pope

There is a small religious group, which by November 2017 had about twenty members, which is called the Faithful Remnant and believe that they constitute the true Roman Catholic Church. The leader of the group is the Canadian Douglas (Doug) Kuzell who claims that he is the Last Pope, Petrus Romanus. Moreover, Kuzell and his wife, Teresa Jackson (Mary Romanus) claim that they are the Two Witnesses, referred to in the Book of Revelation 11:1-14. My research report on the Two Witnesses was originally written in February 2017, but due to the quite dramatic development, it was updated in February 2018.

The research report is found here: The Faithful Remnant and the Last Canadian Pope

Modern Alternative Popes 24: Argentinean Pedro Segundo

Segundo Ubaldo Rolón (Pedro Segundo, 2007-2016). In some respects, this Argentinean papal claimant is a rather typical representative for the mystically elected alternative popes. Marian apparitions played an important role for his claim as well as the assertion that humanity lives in the End Time. He had a clear focus on the events described in the Book of Revelation and their application to the present era. Still, the symbiosis between religion and politics–in this case, a form of “Transcendent Peronism”–makes it quite unique.

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Modern Alternative Popes 23: Colombian Pedro II

Antonio José Hurtado (Pedro II, 1939-1955) was a Colombian, self-trained dentist. After the death of Pope Pius XI in 1939, he proclaimed himself Pope Peter II, stating that he was elected by God. Hurtado’s claim to the papacy only ended with his death in 1955. Thus, his papal claim had nothing to do with the reforms in the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s. The following text is not built on a detailed study of primary sources but mostly relies on secondary material, including some fine articles about this intriguing man (see list of references).

The future pope was born in 1892 in the small town of Barbosa, some 40 kilometres north of Medellín. As a young man, he studied at the Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Santa Rosa de Osos but left when his father died. Hurtado seems to have had great entrepreneurial skills and he was a quick learner. He moved to Bogotá, where he worked in many different areas without having formal training in any of them. Among other things, he became a carpenter, a tailor, a goldsmith and an ambulating photographer.

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Modern Alternative Popes 22: Petrus Romanus and The Two Witnesses

An updated version of this article is found here

Chriszekal Elias a.k.a Peter II: The Pope of Eddystone, Pennsylvania

For a new version, see https://magnuslundberg.net/2022/01/17/the-pope-of-eddystone-pennsylvania/

Modern Alternative Popes 21: Athanasius I

Bryan Richard Clayton (Athanasius I, 2011-?) was born in 1975 in Chicago. He worked as a policeman and a security guard and then briefly attended the sedevacantist CMRI seminary in Omaha, Nebraska. According to some sources, he thereafter received training from a traditionalist Franciscan in Mexico. Clayton was ordained a priest around 2005, and in 2007, he was consecrated by Bishop Patrick Taylor of the Society of the Virgin Mary, who resided in Buckley, West Virginia.

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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.

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Modern Alternative Popes 19: The Catholic and Mercedarian Church

Joaquín Llorens Grau (Alexander IX, 2005-). According to the group’s own information, a traditionalist missionary in Guatemala, Antonio Velasco founded the Congregación Mercedaria Sagrada Tradición Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Generala de los Ejércitos Celestiales, Corredentora. They claim that Velasco was consecrated by Bishop Moises Carmona of the Unión Católica Trento, who was in his turn was consecrated by Archbishop Thuc. There is, however, no independent support for this assertion. Together with six priests and nine novices, Velasco transferred to Elche (Elx) in Spanish Alicante.

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Magnus Lundberg

Church and Mission Historian

Category: Modern alternative popes