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Daily Mail
21-04-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Prophecy of the Popes predicts next pontiff after Francis dies and gives a chilling warning for humanity
Pope Francis' sudden death has put the focus back on a 900-year-old book found in the Vatican Secret Archives that claims to predict who will replace the late pope. The 12th-century 'Prophecy of the Popes' contains a series of cryptic Latin phrases believed to describe every pope, beginning with Celestine II in 1143 and concluded with 'Peter the Roman.' There are nine frontrunners to succeed Pope Francis and three have the name Peter. Francis, who was dealing with respiratory issues for months, died Monday of a suspected cerebral hemorrhage - a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain - at the age of 88. Following a nine-day period of mourning, the Catholic Church will begin the process of determining Francis' replacement, summoning all of the cardinals around the world to Rome. The selection process known as the papal conclave must start between 15 and 20 days after Francis' death. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote, and a two-thirds majority is required to elect a new pope. The renewed interest in the prophecy has also raised concerns about the text's other prediction: that Judgement Day is quickly approaching. Many Christians believe this ominous date of marks when Jesus returns to Earth to determine who will be saved and who will be damned, and a saint said it would happen in 2027 - less than two years from now. Saint Malachy is credited with creating the 12th-century text, Prophecy of the Popes,' which features 112 short, cryptic phrases. Although some scholars have claimed the text is a 16th century forgery, Malachy allegedly wrote Prophecy of the Popes in 1139 after receiving a vision during a visit to Rome. The claims that someone else wrote the 112 phrases about each future pope stem from the specific and highly accurate way each of the popes are described up until 1590. After that point, the phrasing becomes much more vague and leave a lot open to interpretation. However, there are still some shockingly accurate phrases that can be found in modern times. One of the prophecies names the 111th pope as 'Gloria Olivae,' which means 'the glory of the Olive.' The Order of Saint Benedict is also known as the Olivetans, which leads some historians to believe Malachy predicted Pope Benedict would lead the Catholic Church. He was pope from 2005 to 2013. Some believe St Malachy's phrase 'lilium et rosa,' which translates to 'lilly and the rose',' describes Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) because his family's coat of arms featured lilies and roses. Another line of text reads 'De labore Solis,' meaning 'of the eclipse of the sun,' and has been speculated to be naming Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) who was born during a solar eclipse. He was pope from 1978 until 2005. There is also 'peregrinus apostolicus' used for one of the popes that many believe was meant for Pope VI because he spent much of his life traveling to new nations. He was pope from 1963 to 1978. Among the many frontrunners to replace Francis are three cardinals who each have the name Peter, including Peter Erdő of Hungary, the leading conservative candidate; Peter Turkson of Ghana, a prominent figure in the church's social justice circles; and Pietro Parolin of Italy, one of the most experienced Vatican officials. Before his death, some tried to connect Francis to the prophecy of Peter the Roman, noting his Italian heritage and the fact that his birth name was Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone. The saint's predictions were taken seriously in the last few decades. After that point, the phrasing becomes much more vague and leave a lot open to interpretation. However, there are still some shockingly accurate phrases that can be found in modern times. As one report states: 'In 1958, before the Conclave that would elect Pope John XXIII, Cardinal Spellman of New York hired a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber River, to show that he was 'pastor et nautor,' the motto attributed to the next Pope in the prophecies.' According to the final entry surrounding Peter the Roman, the 'last pope' will preside over the Church during a time of great turmoil, culminating in the destruction of Rome and the end of the papacy. 'In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End,' the last passage of the book reads. While some incorrectly interpreted the prophecy as 'Peter the Roman' taking over for Pope Francis during his recent hospitalizations, others believed Malachy was suggesting Francis himself would be the last pontiff. A documentary released in 2024 suggested the latter would be true due to a passage attributed to Pope Sixtus V from 1585 that reads: 'Axle in the midst of a sign' - supposedly marking the halfway point of Malachy's prophecy. Pope Sixtus V took the helm 442 years after the first leader and with the text suggesting he is the middle of the prophecy, the end of the world would come 442 years later in 2027. While the book was found more than 400 years ago, its prophecy recently resurfaced when Francis suffered two episodes of respiratory crisis in February. A documentary released in 2024 suggested the latter would be true due to a passage attributed to Pope Sixtus V from 1585 that reads: 'Axle in the midst of a sign' - supposedly marking the halfway point of Malachy's prophecy. Pope Sixtus V took the helm 442 years after the first leader and with the text suggesting he is the middle of the prophecy, the end of the world would come 442 years later in 2027.
Boston Globe
11-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
In his own words: Pope Francis has long been up front about his health problems and eventual death
Francis' candor with his own fragility is very much in keeping with a decision he made early on in his papacy to be up front about his health: He granted an unprecedented tell-all interview to an Argentine doctor who published a book in 2021 detailing Francis' physical and mental health history. And last week, Francis recorded an audio message from the hospital that laid bare the weakness of his voice, and the labored, breathless effort it took for him to utter just a few words. Here are a few of Francis' past musings on sickness, ageing and death and how they might affect the future of his pontificate. Advertisement On growing old: Francis has long complained about the way society treats old people, saying they are part of today's consumerist 'throwaway culture' when they are deemed no longer productive. For that reason especially, he insisted that Pope Benedict XVI continue to be part of the life of the church during his 10-year retirement. Francis' views on ageing have been consistent, even as he himself has aged and become dependent on a wheelchair and walker to get around. In the 2010 book 'On Heaven and Earth,' written alongside his friend the Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Francis denounced the cruelty that confronts elderly people. He shamed families who shut their grandparents away in nursing homes and neglect to visit them. 'The elderly are sources of the transmission of history, the people who give us memories, they are the memory of the people, of a nation, of the family and of the culture, religion,' said Francis, who at the time was the archbishop of Buenos Aires. Advertisement On death in general: In the same book, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio recalled that his grandmother Rosa, who helped raise him, had the words of an adage framed on her bedside table that stayed with him all his life: 'See that God sees you, see that he is watching you, see that you will die and you don't know when.' He referred to the saying again in 2018 in a speech to priests, and that his grandmother had instructed him to recite it every day ''so you will remember that life has an end.'' 'I didn't understand much at the time, but that verse, since I was three years old, has stuck with me,' he told the priests. 'And it helped me. The thing was kind of bleak, but it helped me.' On his own health problems: The Argentine journalist and physician, Dr. Nelson Castro, revealed in his 2021 book 'The Health of Popes,' that Francis had reached out to him within a few months of his 2013 election with a suggestion that he write a book about the history of the health of the popes, including his own. Castro was granted access to the Vatican Secret Archives to research the lives and deaths of past popes and had a sit-down interview with Francis on Feb. 19, 2019, during which the reigning pope spoke at length and in detail about his various ailments over the years: The respiratory infection that resulted in the removal of the upper lobe of his right lung, the gangrenous gallbladder he had removed when he was provincial superior of the Jesuits, the compressed vertebrae, flat feet and fatty liver he has lived with. Advertisement The most noteworthy revelation was that Francis said he saw a psychiatrist weekly during six months of Argentina's military dictatorship. He had sought out help to manage his anxiety when he was trying to hide people from the military and ferry them out of Argentina. 'In those six months she helped me with respect to how to manage the fears of that time,' he told Castro. 'If you can imagine what it was like to transport someone hidden in the car — covered by a blanket — and pass through military controls. … It created an enormous tension in me.' He said the therapy also helped him to maintain a sense of equilibrium in making decisions of all kinds, and that in general he believes all priests must understand human psychology. 'We should offer a mate to our neuroses,' he said, referring to the South American tea. 'They are our companions for life.' On his own death: As early as 2014 Francis was already assuming his papacy would be short-lived and that his own death was not far off. 'I realize that this is not going to last long, two or three years, and then … off to the house of the Father,' he told reporters in 2014 while traveling home from one of his early foreign trips, to South Korea. He told Castro later that he thought about death — a lot — but that it didn't scare him 'one bit.' Francis made plans, too: He decided his tomb will be in St. Mary Major basilica, not in the Vatican, so he can be near his favorite icon of the Madonna, the Salus Populi Romani ('Salvation of the People of Rome'), which is located there. Advertisement More recently, he has taken to speaking about upcoming events that he is pretty sure he won't be around for, and indicating who might. In 2023, speaking to reporters about the Vatican's warming relations with Vietnam, Francis concurred that the country warranted a papal visit. 'If I don't go, surely John XXIV will,' he said chuckling, referring to a future pope who might be named for the progressive, Vatican II-era pontiff, John XXIII.
