360 In-Depth: St. Malachy, The Last Popes and The End Times

St. Malachy, (d. 1148) Irish Bishop and Seer, produced an accurate list of future popes which began with Pope Celestine II in the year 1143. His list consists of a single line which gives a clue to the characteristics of each pope. From this list of 112 popes there are to be just 2 more after Pope John Paul II who passed away on 2 April 2005. His predictions regarding the popes have been for the most part pretty accurate regarding the identifying characteristics that each line reveals. St. Malachy doesn't give any predictions or information about what happens after the last pope. According to some other seers, we will have arrived at the end times.

Here are the previous five Popes from Malachy's list:

106. Pius XII 1939 - 1958 Eugenio Pacelli
Pastor Angelicus (An angelic shepherd)

107. John XXIII 1958 - 1963 Angelo Gueseppe Roncalli
Pastor Et Natua (Pastor and mariner)

108. Paul VI 1963 - 1978 Giovanni Battista Montini
Flos Florum (Flower of flowers)

109. John Paul I 1978 - 1978
De Medietate Lunae (Of the half moon)

Note: This pope who was unpopular with the curia, lasted only 34 days (which is about one moon cycle) and died suddenly of unknown causes. His body was cremated within one day without an autopsy. This was and still is controversial, since popes are usually buried within the walls of the Vatican and are never cremated. The suddenness of this action has led to much speculation about a political conspiracy.
Allegedly, there are 3 quatrains found in Nostradamus Prophesies that fit the circumstances surrounding the death of this pope. I have yet to come across them.

110. John Paul II 1978 - Died April 2, 2005 Karol Josef Wojtlya
De Labore Solis (From the toil of the sun)

As his Latin name implies from St. Malachy, Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) was born on May 18, 1920 during an eclipse of the sun. Like the sun he came out of the East (Poland). Like the sun he has visited countries all around the globe while doing his work.

This pope has been identified with unceasing hard work, having visited practically every country in the world. He has traveled in access of 3/4 million miles in promoting the faith. He was the first non-Italian pope in 450 years. John Paul II is responsible with bringing an end to the communist regime in Poland. This initiated a domino effect within other eastern European communist controlled nations which quickly followed shortly after. No longer able to sustain itself, the Soviet Union fell away from the negative and inefficient economic structure of Communism and we have what is now Russia, the Ukraine and other nations that are independent and mostly free.

The Current Pope

111. Benedict XVI - The New Pope Joseph Ratzinger was elected the 265th pope on April 19, 2005 a few days after his 78th birthday.
(The glory of the olive)

The olive branch represents peace. Will he play a role in bringing the religions together and furthering tolerance during his office? Within 24 hours of his election, Islamic and Jewish religious leaders suggested just such a role for him. Hopefully, he can lead the religious world to recognize and focus upon the commonality of their belief in the same God rather than their differences

Perhaps through the implementation of tolerance we can look to a future where people stop justifying the killing of one another in the name of God. Let us see what the future will bring.

In The Future

112. The Last Pope
(Peter the Roman) "In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge the people. The End."

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So assuming the last pope will be the False Prophet, let's delve into whether Pope Benedict XVI is the last pope. Whether the new "pope #111" in Malachy's prophecy of future popes is the False Prophet depends on which version of Malachy's prophecy is correct (if any). The first version of Malachy's prophecy of the remaining popes included only 111. However, a later release had an additional pope to make 112. If there is yet one more, it would be conceivable for Ratzinger, aged 78, to be a short-lived transitional pope prior to the final False Prophet pope (in fact, he himself pronounced a short papacy at hearing of his election, and his brother bemoaned the effect it would have on his health). Under this scenario he would only live a few years in time for a new pope to take his place right before the Great Tribulation starts.

Indeed, other Catholic prophecies (like Conchita of Garabandal) say the pope after John Paul II will be the last before the End Times or "end of the time, but not the end of the world". I see this in agreement with Malachy's list because the list does not say we have 10 or 20 more popes. Instead it provides another witness saying we are at the cusp of the Great Tribulation once we get past one more pope. At most one more pope left would indicate we are just a couple of years-not, say, 10 or 100-from big prophetic events beginning. Again, according to the Garabandal prophecies, a great worldwide harmless but frightening "Warning" followed by a diastrous "Chastisement" will come once the final pope before the "end of time" has passed...our Benedict XVI.

But is there any evidence from the Bible to help us know if Pope Benedict XVI is the False Prophet? Unfortunately, the Bible itself just does not give much identifying information for the False Prophet (as opposed to the Antichrist, who the Bible has more details identifying him as Prince Charles than there is for you to identify who you are). Nevertheless, the description it does provide about the False Prophet is enough to conclude that it will likely be a pope.

You decide.

Walter

Further Reading:
The Pope's Funeral and Malachy Prophesy
The Prophesies of St. Malachy
Nostradamus Pope Prophecy and Malachy
Malachy's Prophecies - The Last 10 Popes