Jean-Gaston Tremblay

Jean-Gaston Tremblay (September 8, 1928 – December 31, 2011) was a traditionalist Catholic religious leader and self-proclaimed pope, with the name Gregory XVII . He reigned as antipope in opposition to the Catholic Church from 1969 until his death in 2011.

Biography Tremblay was born on September 8, 1928, in Rimouski, Quebec. His father was a lumberjack. Raised Catholic, he moved to Montreal at 16, where he joined the Brothers of St. John of God. In 1952 he received permission to form his own community, which he called the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. The community moved from town to town for a number of years, before settling in St. Jovite, in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, in 1958. The following year Collin ordained him a priest and soon afterwards consecrated him bishop. The group attracted traditional Catholics unhappy with the Second Vatican Council. Tremblay linked his papacy with the prophecy of Our Lady of La Salette, as had Collin.

Over the following 40 years, Tremblay was the subject of numerous police investigations into charges of kidnapping, illegal detention, and child abuse. One former member filed a civil suit for $2.5 million in 2001, claiming physical and sexual abuse. Tremblay had served six months in prison in 1977 for defying an order to hand over the boy and his sister to the authorities. Also in 2001, Tremblay and two others were charged with multiple counts of abuse dating back more than 30 years, but the case was dropped.

Tremblay died on December 31, 2011, at a hospital in Sainte Agathe, Quebec.