Jean-Gaston Tremblay
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Jean Grégoire de La Trinité, alias Jean-Gaston Tremblay, from Canada proclaimed himself Pope Gregory XVII in 1968; however, it must be noted that Tremblay usually styles himself Pope John-Gregory XVII. He is the self styled successor of an ultra-modernist, reformist French antipope, Michel Collin, founder of the Renovated Church of Christ and the Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God, who went under the name Clement (or: Clemens) XV since 1950. Collin had previously been a French Roman Catholic priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart since 1939.
Colin's 'Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God' and 'Apostles of Infinite Love', which together make up the Renovated Church of Christ finally established in 1963, claim they were approved by the apparition of La Salette and by Marian visions given to Michel Collin. The sect ordains women to the priesthood, and the community itself is marked because of its isolation from the outside world.
In 1999, John-Gregory XVII was charged with sexual abuse of children, after a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest. His group still has a website and calls themselves "Apostles of Infinite Love." The charges were reportedly dropped in 2001.
[edit] External links
- Rick Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, article from Montreal Gazette about Tremblay's arrest in 1999.