St. Malachy and the Prophesy of the Last Pope

The media is abuzz after the announcement of Pope Benedict’s pending retirement. Not just the usual speculation about possible candidates, what country they’re from, or whether they’ll be Italian, but also a medieval Irish saint’s prophecy about the last pope and the Biblical end of days.

Saint Malachy was a 12th century Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland who traveled to Rome to give an accounting of his diocese. When he arrived, he fell into a trance and had a vision of the life of every pope right up to the last one. He wrote his vision down in a list called the Prophecy of the Popes. Malachy didn’t give the popes names; rather, he called them by arcane titles like religio depopulata (religion depopulated) or fides intrepida (intrepid faith).

At first, no one understood what the designations meant. Over time, they began to see that the descriptions referred to the popes’ lives or a significant event in their reign. Saint Malachy called Pope John Paul I from the half moon. His papacy began at the half moon and he died during a half moon. He named John Paul II from the eclipse of the sun. John Paul II was born during an eclipse and died during one, as well. However, the last pope, who will usher in the Bible's end of days, is the only one named: petrus romanus or Peter the Roman.

Church theologians and many historians claim the Prophecy of the Popes is a 16th-century forgery, and cite its accuracy before publication versus its inaccuracy subsequently as the rationale. But what makes Malachy’s prophecy compelling is that it follows similar themes in other prophecies about the last pope and the last days; or rather, later prophecies follow Malachy’s clairvoyance.



In the 19th century, Pope Pius X predicted that The Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving the Vatican, he will pass over the dead bodies of his priests! In 1917, Ten-year-old Lucia de Santos was visited by the Virgin Mother—Our Lady of Fatima--and given three prophecies. She kept the last vision a secret, sealed in an envelope, saying the Virgin had given instructions that it not be opened until 1960. When the time came, Pope John XXIII read her vision and fainted. Why? Because Lucia repeated the same visions as earlier popes and Malachy:

…the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him…



According to Saint Malachy, the next pontiff will be petrus romanus, the last pope, and he will usher in the Biblical last days. But so far, the world is still here despite other predictions, including the Mayan calendar. Nevertheless, you can read about Saint Malachy and the last pope's destiny in The Psalter.