Three years ago, I wrote a group profile on the Palmarian Church for the World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP), led by Professor David Bromley. The project website is a very useful resource for those who are looking for good and reliable information about a large number of religious groups, both big and small. It includes a growing number of “group profiles”, but also many other resources.

As readers of this website will know, there has been dramatic changes in the Palmarian Church in the last three years. Among many other things, Pope Gregory XVIII left the papacy and the church. He married and now he and his wife are in prison accused of attempted armed robbery. In short, it was necessary to write an updated profile.

You find the new text here.

In the recent 25th-anniversary issue of Immobilien Zeitschrift, a German magazine dedicated to the real estate business, there is an excellent article on the Palmarian Church, written by Friedhelm Feldhaus. You may think that a real estate magazine is not the most obvious place for such an article, but to some extent, it is focused on the construction of the huge basilica in El Palmar de Troya.

Friedhelm Feldhaus has done excellent research. He read much of the recent texts on the church, but he also went to El Palmar, entered the basilica and interviewed a number of people in the town and elsewhere. In short, the article provides the reader with an unusually good introduction to the history and current status of the Palmarians.

So if you read German, I really recommend the piece, and even if you don’t, look at the images. I have never seen a better picture of the whole church compound from above.

The full text is found here

Here is a collection of Palmarian devotions and prayers: the Holy Penitential Rosary, the Trisagion, Daily Prayers and Miscellaneous Prayers. These versions were used in the mid-2010s, during the pontificate of Gregory XVIII (2011-2016). For a study of Palmarian history, teachings and devotions, see my monograph A Pope of their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church. 

Holy Penitential Rosary

Holy Trisagion

Daily devotions

Other prayers

I have written much about the Palmarian Catholic Church, and its history and teachings. My main contribution is the monograph A Pope of their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church (2017). Although based on many traditional Catholic beliefs, from its foundation in 1978 until today the Palmarian church has come to include increasingly unusual teachings in its creed. Today, for example, the Palmarians have a Bible own their own, which has replaced the traditional Bible as their most important holy scripture.

The Palmarian Bible is hardly available in public libraries and it is not available online. As a service to researchers and others, I will scan one of the English versions: the Sacred History or Holy Palmarian Bible. Superior Grade. According to the Infallible Magisterium of the Church. (Holy Apostolic See, El Palmar de Troya, 2012). Unfortunately, I only have access to volume 1 (the Old Testament). However, a German version of the Palmarian New Testament is available here. 

Unlike most traditionalist groups with roots in the Roman Catholic Church, the Palmarian Catholic Church does not use the Tridentine Mass Order, but a very brief version which is thought to include ”the essential parts” of that rite.

Nevertheless, in his first papal decrees in 1978, Palmarian Pope Gregory XVII (1946-2005) declared that the only rite that should be used in the Palmarian Catholic Church was the so-called Tridentine Mass, promulgated in 1570 by Pius V. Shortly thereafter, however, he made changes in the rite and introduced several new elements, and, by 1980, he referred to the rite as Latin-Tridentine-Palmarian.

A much greater change came on October 9, 1983, when Gregory XVIII promulgated a new, much briefer Mass Order, which is concentrated to offertory, consecration and sacrificial communion. Making it very brief, about five minutes long, each cleric could and should read several masses a day; in fact, they say turns of Masses, not individual ones. Likewise, concelebrating was banned, as it would lessen the number of Masses that could be read per day.  In this way, the Palmarian views resembles the practise in the Renovated Church of French Pope Clement XV’s, who in the 1960s introduced a much reduced Mass liturgy, celebrating series of Masses instead. Still, unlike the Renovated church, the Palmarians only say Mass in Latin.

One of the most important sources for the study of the teachings of the Palmarian Catholic Church is their catechism. Those who consult the book will find doctrines that have much in common with traditional Roman Catholicism, but also very different teachings. Throughout the years, the church has published many versions of the catechism, including basic, intermediate and superior levels. Below you will find a scanned version of Palmarian Catechism: Superior Grade, which was promulgated by Pope Peter III (Markus Josef Odermatt; Fr. Eliseo María) on June 29, 2016. The book was published by the Secretariat of His Holiness, El Palmar de Troya in 2016.

Palmarian Catechism-part 1

Palmarian Catechism-part 2

To read more about Palmarian doctrine and the history of the church, see my new book, A Pope of Their Own, which is downloadable here

In 2005, Manuel Alonso Corral (Fr. Isidoro María) succeeded Gregory XVII (Clemente Domínguez Goméz) as pope of the Palmarian Catholic Church. He took Peter II as his papal name. Manuel Alonso and Clemente Domínguez had been friends since 1969, and Manuel was an important organizer of the movement that followed in the steps of the alleged apparitions to Clemente: the foundation of a religious order, the consecration of bishops, and, finally, in 1978, the founding of the Palmarian church and the proclamation of Clemente Domínguez, as the true pope.

Below you will find scanned versions of all the 30 apostolic letters that Peter II issued during his pontificate (2005-2011).

Peter II apostolic letters 1-10

Peter II apostolic letters 11-20

Peter II apostolic letters 21-30

For a study of the pontificate of Peter II and on the general history of the Palmarian Church, please see my new book, A Pope of Their Own, which is downloadable here.