Prophecy of the Popes

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The Prophecy of the Popes is a set of 112 supposed predictions of future Popes, attributed to the twelfth-century Irish Saint Malachy but only known from 1590. The cryptic nature of the predictions has led to much speculation on their meaning, in a similar manner to those of Nostradamus, but not on such an industrial scale. On the other hand, it may be a form of Irish humour. The "prophecy" has, naturally shockingly enough, required rather more shoehorning to remain "accurate" for Popes elected after 1590.

The retirement of Benedict XVI, the penultimate Pope on the list, led to some theorizing by people who believe this list has any validity. Hopefully after this and the 2012 apocalypse turned into non-events fewer people will take end of the world doomsayers seriously, at least for a few years.

Persons whose future utterances may be disregarded

Bibleprobe.com ask if Benedict XVI is the final pope, and decide to mention, in a peroration on the antichrist, Vladimir Putin's visit to Israel. PrisonPlanet, of course, has its say, and a look through the comments gives us plenty of entertaining thinking ("THE MEDIA IS THE JDEOMSNC TOOL HELPING TO DESTROY CHRISTIANITY"). You'd think Marketwatch, run by the Wall Street Journal, might have something sensible to say, but again the comments, though slightly less conspiratorial than prisonplanet, can come up trumps. "Too many people are controlled by the illumanati media music ect. [sic] just like here chasing the money root of all evil (devil is in the gooberment [sic]) 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 must killl [sic] the beast so pray[er] is the only hope we have and conversion GOD has a plan for us that try to be good," says the no doubt wise and learned Timmy Martin.

Petrus Romanus

“”In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit. Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus, quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, & judex tremedus judicabit populum suum. Finis. "In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and a terrible judge or the terrible judge (Latin is not specific) will judge his people. The End."

This can easily be interpreted as the Last Judgement but if the world survives the prediction is sufficiently vague that other events can be shoehorned to fit.

Petrus Romanus is often translated as Peter the Roman, but "petrus" can also mean a "rock", the Latinised version of Greek "petros".

Since Pope Benedict resigned while living, it is likely not all Roman Catholics will see his successor as valid.

Runners and riders

In the runup to the February 2013 conclave, candidates for the final Pope were:

• Peter Turkson (born 1948), a Ghanaian and a "wonderful" "people's person" apparently. Would be the first African Pope since Gelasius I in 496. And check that first name! One website expected Peter the Ghanaian to become Peter the Roman.
• Tarcisio Pietro Bertone (Pietro is Peter in English) Tarcisio is also an anagram of Iscariot in English. Spooky. He was born at Romano Canavese.
• Marc Ouellet (born 1944) would be the first Quebecois, or even North American, Pope. Issued an apology in 2007 for the Church's pre-1960's racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes. Abortion, though, is still a "moral crime", even in cases of rape.
• Francis Arinze (born 1932) was thought to be a strong candidate at the last conclave, but was too old this time round. Once taught Logic in his native Nigeria; how you go from that to preaching superstition is beyond us.
• Angelo Scola (born 1941): "we Christians often propose [matters] moralistically instead of giving reasons, instead of convincing...This is a weakness of ours." No shit.
• Pietro Parolin, Vatican diplomat and ambassador to Hugo Chavez and elsewhere.
• Odilo Scherer, middle name "Pedro" (Portuguese for Peter), a vocal opponent of abortion, and of the secularization of Brazil.

That's an awful lot of Peters. Or a lot of awful Peters.

And the winner is...

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who has taken the Papal name Francis. Not a Peter in sight. Jorge, you should be ashamed - you've let down millions of conspiracy theorists!

Wait! There are several Peters after all, Saint Francis was originally Giovanni Di Pietro Di Bernardone. And the Vatican stated bones they found are those of Peter the Apostle so with a bit of imagination that can also make Francis into Peter the Roman. And there are yet more coincidences linking Pope Francis to Peter, to rocks and a great deal more. Peter is a common name and rocks are a major part of the earth, therefore it should not surprise us that Francis can be shoehorned into the prophecy.

See also

• List of predictions of the end of the world