Joseph Odermatt, known by his

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as Eliseo María and by his

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as Peter III, is a Swiss

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prelate and the current pope of the

Palmarian Christian Church , native_name_lang = , image = File:Catedral El Palmar.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Cathedral of El Palmar de Troya , caption = Cathedral of El Palmar de Troya, seat of the Palmarian ...

. Odermatt succeeded Ginés Jesús Hernández (Pope Gregory XVIII) after Hernández left the Palmarian Christian Church and returned to the

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Biography

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. In 2016 he succeeded Ginés Jesús Hernández as Pope of the Palmarian Christian 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

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, in which he accused his predecessor of discrediting his former Church and of stealing two million euros from the Palmarian Christian Church, alongside several goods (including a

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): he subsequently declared him an

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excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

him and declared all of his acts to be

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. Hernández denies the charges of stealing. Odermatt disbanded the papal guard corp instituted by his predecessor, deeming it unnecessary for his security. In 2018 he travelled to the United States for the first time to participate at a "

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ic,

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and Josephine Congress". During his office, the Palmarian Christian Church established an online presence for the first time, opening a website and accounts on

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and a channel on

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Biography

Notes

References

Further reading