As far as we know, Archbishop Ján Maria Michał Kowalski (1871–1942), the longtime leader of the Polish (Old) Catholic Mariavite Church claimed much spiritual power, even a kind of Messiah-status, but that he never explicitly claim the papacy. Still, bishops in the Mariavite core group, at least from the mid-1920s, asserted that the Roman pontiff was not the true pope anymore, that the Holy See had moved from Rome to the Mariavite centre in Plock, and that Kowalski was the long-awaited ‘Slavic Pope’, that Polish nationalist authors wrote about: a liberator and a benevolent religious leader.

The founder of the Mariavites was Sister Feliksa Maria Franciszka Kozlowska (1862–1921), often called Little Mother (Mateczka). She claimed to receive divine revelations–‘understandings’–from 1893 onwards, and the interpretation of them played a significant role in the development of the Mariavite doctrine, both before and after her death. Posthumously many followers believed Little Mother to be divine, and Archbishop Kowalski had an almost sacred status, even during his life. Claiming ‘understandings’, too, he introduced drastic doctrinal changes throughout the 1920s. Still, Kowalski’s autocratic rule and the unorthodox doctrinal development led to a schism in 1935, when only a small minority of the faithful remained with him.

A preliminary version of my text on Kowalski and the Mariavite papacy is found here

See new version here

See new version here 

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

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.

Continue reading “Modern Alternative Popes 24: Argentinean Pedro Segundo” →

 An updated version of this article is found here