Joseph Odermatt

Antipope Peter III (born Markus Josef Odermatt; 13 March 1966), also known by the religious name Eliseo María de la Santa Faz, is the fourth leader of the Palmarian Catholic Church who, in this capacity, claims to be the 266th pope of the Catholic Church from 22 April 2016 to the present.^[3][a] He succeeded Antipope Gregory XVIII (Ginés Jesús Hernández), to whom he had earlier served as Palmarian Secretary of State, after Hernández left the Palmarian Church and reconciled with the Vatican.^[3]

Antipope Peter III
Supreme Pontiff of the Palmarian Catholic Church Patriatch of El Palmar de Troya
Official portrait, 2025
Installed	22 April 2016
Predecessor	Gregory XVIII
Opposed to	Francis (2016–2025) Leo XIV (2025–present)
Personal details
Born	Markus Josef Odermatt[1] Stans, Nidwalden, Switzerland[2]
Denomination	Palmarian Catholic Church (claims to be the Catholic Church)
Motto	De Glória Ecclésiæ ("Glory of the Church")

Life

Odermatt was born in Stans, Canton of Nidwalden, in Switzerland. He claims to be a descendant of Saint Nicholas of Flüe. He joined the Order of Carmelites of the Holy Face in 1985 and worked for eighteen years as a missionary in South America. He served as the order's secretary of state from 2011 until 2016.^[6] In 2016 he succeeded Ginés Jesús Hernández as pope of the Palmarian Catholic Church, taking the papal name Peter III. He is seated at the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Crowned Mother of Palmar.

Some months later he published an encyclical letter, in which he accused his predecessor of discrediting his former church and of stealing two million euros from the Palmarian Catholic Church, alongside several goods (including a BMW X6): he subsequently declared him an apostate, excommunicated him and declared all of his acts to be null and void. Hernández denies the charges of stealing.^[7]

Odermatt disbanded the papal guard corps instituted by his predecessor, deeming it unnecessary for his security.^[8] In 2018 he travelled to the United States for the first time to participate at a "Eucharistic, Marian and Josephine Congress".^[9]

During his office, the Palmarian Catholic Church established an online presence for the first time, opening a website and accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and a channel on YouTube.^[10][11]

Supporters of the modern Vatican consider Odermatt to be an Antipope and believe that the current head of the Catholic Church is Robert Prevost (Leo XIV), an American from Chicago.^[12] Conversely, the exact inverse is believed by Palmarian Catholics: namely that Pope Peter III is the "true Pope" and Prevost ("Antipope Leo XIV") is an Antipope.

Notes

1. It is difficult to obtain reliable and verified information about the Palmarian sect, according to religious studies scholar Jean-François Mayer, since the sect neither makes public announcements nor had an online presence until 2018.^[4] Little is known about what happens inside the sect compound, according to ABC newspaper journalist Alberto Flores, who described the usual behavior of the sect as "habitual secrecy" (habitual ocultismo).^[5]