El Palmar de Troya - Basílica de Nuestra Madre del Palmar Coronada

This might be one of the weirdest places I have ever been. Well, the Basilica is surrounded by a high wall. There is a locked gate and a bell, but it has not been opened. So I was not inside.

This is the headquarters of the Palmarian Christian Church. The story begins with an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Palmar de Troya in 1968. In 1969, Clemente Domínguez visited the site of the apparition, where he said he had a divine vision. People gathered. In 1975, the Palmarians founded a religious order and had several priests ordained. After the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978, Clemente Domínguez claimed that he had been mystically crowned Pope of the Catholic Church by Jesus Christ and was to reign as Pope Gregory XVII from El Palmar de Troya.

There have been three subsequent Palmarian Popes. Currently reigning since 2016 is swiss born Pope Petrus III. (aka Joseph Odermatt ), who accused his predecessor Ginés Jesús Hernández of discrediting the Palmarian Church and of stealing two million euros from the church. He then declared him an apostate and excommunicated him.