1975

The year 1975 marks the founding of the Palmarian Church, a schismatic Catholic sect that plays a central role in the conspiracy surrounding Edmond Kirsch's murder. In that year, a Spanish insurance broker named Clemente Domínguez y Gómez claimed to have had a vision in which he was crowned pope by Jesus Christ himself. Taking the papal name Gregory XVII, he broke from the Vatican, appointed his own cardinals, and established the Palmarian Church, which rejected the authority of the Roman pontiff as a "false pope" and denounced the "heresy of modernism" that had allegedly infected the mainstream Catholic Church. This act of sedevacantism—the belief that St. Peter's seat was literally vacant—created a parallel hierarchy that would amass thousands of followers and vast wealth, enabling the construction of a fortress-like church compound called the Mount of Christ the King in El Palmar de Troya, Spain.

The Church's Rise and Ideology

The Palmarian Church, born in 1975, grew steadily under Pope Gregory XVII, who died in 2005 while presiding over an Easter mass—an event his supporters hailed as a miraculous sign. The sect attracted ultraconservative Catholics who craved a more traditionalist interpretation of the faith, opposing the liberalizing changes emanating from Rome. Its ideology blended nationalism, militarism, and a strict interpretation of Catholic doctrine, canonizing controversial figures including Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler as saints. The church's symbol, the "victor" tattoo—a six-letter Latin word meaning "victor"—became synonymous with Franco's dictatorship and was later found on the palm of Admiral Luis Ávila, the assassin who killed Edmond Kirsch. This symbol, along with the church's military ties and conservative Carlist ideals, linked the Palmarian Church to a hidden fraternity of Francoist supporters within the highest reaches of Spanish government and the Catholic Church.

Connection to the Assassination

The Palmarian Church's role in the novel's central crime is revealed through the character of Admiral Luis Ávila, a former Spanish navy officer who, after losing his family in a terrorist attack at the Cathedral of Seville, was recruited by the church. His physical therapist, Marco, a Palmarian member who lost a leg in the same attack, introduced Ávila to the church's antipope, Innocent XIV, who preached that forgiveness was not the only path to salvation and that Ávila's rage could be transformed into a "potent force for goodness." The church's leadership, operating through a figure known as the Regent, hired Ávila to assassinate Kirsch, framing the act as a holy mission. The assassination was intended to silence Kirsch's scientific discovery, which threatened to undermine religious belief, and to destroy the Palmarian Church's reputation—a goal that Kirsch himself had pursued for years, alleging that the church was responsible for his mother's suicide. The conspiracy unraveled when evidence surfaced linking Ávila to the Palmarian Church, leading to widespread condemnation and the church's eventual collapse.

Aftermath and Significance

In the wake of Kirsch's assassination, the Palmarian Church faced intense scrutiny. Media reports revealed that the church had been founded "as a tax-evasion scheme," and its practices—including brainwashing, psychological conditioning, and physical cruelty—were exposed. The church's involvement in the murder, combined with its history of abuse and its canonization of fascist leaders, led to its rapid decline. The year 1975 thus serves as the origin point for a religious movement that, decades later, would become a key instrument in a plot to suppress scientific truth, highlighting the novel's theme of the conflict between religious extremism and scientific progress.