Clemente Dominguez Gomez, a blind 32-year-old former insurance clerk who established his own religious order without church approval, had himself "crowned" Pope Gregory XVII today.
The agency said Dominguez, who was "elected" Friday as the new head of the Roman Catholic Church, had been crowned by his own "college of bishops" at the headquarterd of his religious order in the southern Spanish city of Seville.
After failing in an attempt to enter a Seville seminary, Dominguez established his order near the Seville-area town of El Palmar de Troya, where four little girls said they saw a vision of the Virgin Mary 10 years ago. He has fenced in the site and is building a million-dollar cathedral with donations.
Dominquez, who claims to have visions and conversations with God, had said for several months he would replace Pope Paul VI, who died Aug. 6. Dominquez was named a bishop on New Year's Eve 1975 by the former archbishop of Bulla Regia, Italy, Monsignor Pierre Ngo Dinh. The archbishop, brother of the late South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem, later said he had made a mistake.
Church officials in Madrid said they had no comment on Dominquez's latest actions. The Church does not recognize Dominquez but has taken no action against him.
They said that according to church law Ngo Dinh could not name Dominquez, who is unordained, a bishop, and therefore Dominquez is neither bishop nor priest and has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church.
After his crowning, Dominquez named Manual Alonso Corral as a cardinal. Before having himself elected pope, Dominquez had named 130 bishops, 27 monks and one priest, a 17-year-old deaf mute; to his "Carmelite Order of the Holy Face." He was elected by the 70 bishops remaining in his order.
