By the prophecies of Irish St. Malachy the next pope will be last, will be known as Peter of Rome and a great Armageddon will happen during his papacy.
With the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the first pontiff to step down in almost 600 years, Malachy’s prophecy has garnered renewed attention — not least because, on Malachy’s list, Benedict was number 111.
The Prophecy of the Popes (Latin: Prophetia Sancte Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus) is a series of 112 short, cryptic phrases in Latin which purport to predict the Roman Catholic popes (along with a few antipopes), beginning with Pope Celestine II. The alleged prophecies were first published by Benedictine monk Arnold de Wyon in 1595. Wyon attributes the prophecies to Saint Malachy, a 12th‑century Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland.
Malachy used a short phrase in Latin to describe each Pope, beginning with Celestine II and “From a castle on the Tiber.” That Pope’s birth name was Guido di Castello.
More recently, he described Pope John Paul I. with the phrase: “From the midst of the moon.” His reign, which began in 1978, began with the moon half full and lasted only one month – or one moon.
He was followed by Pope John Paul II. by the Latin expression “Laboris Solis” – or translated “From the labor of the sun” – an expression meaning a solar eclipse.
As it turned out, John Paul II was the only known pope to be born on the day of a solar eclipse – and he was buried on the day of a solar eclipse.
