Manuel Corral

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Manuel Alonso Corral, known by his supporters as Pope Peter II, is the current leader of the Palmarian Catholic Church. Corral succeeded Clemente Dominguez Gomez (Palmarian Pope Gregory XVII) in 2005. Dominguez founded the Palmarian group in 1975, initially under the guise of being a newly formed conservative Roman Catholic Order of Carmelites (Carmelite Order of the Holy Face), but later claimed that Jesus Christ created him pope in 1978 in a mystical vision.

Corral was previously a skilled, affluent lawyer, but when Clemente Dominguez claimed he received heavenly visions, Corral left his legal practice to join Dominguez in founding the Carmelite Order of the Holy Face, which became known as the Holy, Apostolic, Catholic and Palmarian Church in 1978. Corral was ordained priest and bishop by Roman Catholic Archbishop Ngô Ðình Thuc Pierre Martin in 1976 along with Dominguez and three others (these three others had already been Roman Catholic priests for many years). Archbishop Thuc and the five new bishops were excommunicated by Paul VI for consecrating bishops without the Vatican's approval. Thuc recanted and repudiated his consecrations for the Palmar-based Carmelite Order of the Holy Face. He asked Pope Paul VI to be forgiven and was absolved of all ecclesial penalties in 1976, until 1981 when he was again excommunicated by Pope John Paul II for illicit consecrations.

Clemente Dominguez in 1978 however named Corral Cardinal Secretary of State of their church and later named him his successor. His being appointed, as opposed being elected by the Palmarian College of Cardinals seems to have alienated some members enough to create a rift in the group, [1] although the post-1977 sexual perversions and activities of Domínguez may also have played a role. Upon Dominguez's death in 2005, Corral succeeded him as Pope Peter II. Gregory XVII and Peter II are not recognized as popes by the Roman Catholic Church, and are considered antipopes.

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Sedevacantism is a post-Vatican II phenomenon that is parallel but distinct from the mysticalist claims by persons such as Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, Jean-Gaston Tremblay and the many "Pope Peter II"s (including this one). Mysticalists are not Sedevacantists, and Clemente Domínguez y Gómez was never a Sedevacantist, having recognized John XXIII and Paul VI as legitimate popes, and himself as their next successor. David Bawden (1990), Victor von Pentz (1994) and Lucian Pulvermacher (1998) are post-Sedevacantist claimants to the Papacy, though most serious Sedevacantists reject them.
Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, during whose reigns Corral has been one of many antipopes, including as some claim, all the popes from John XXII on down to the present Benedict XVI..