davidbowerkingwood

 Saint Malachy and the Papal Succession

As you are probably aware, Pope Benedict XVI has announced his resignation to be effective at the end of February. This is the first time in almost 600 years that a pope has resigned from office; the last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

The reason I bring this up has to do with the prophecies of Saint Malachy, an Irish archbishop who died in 1148. According to the record, these prophecies were largely unnoticed until 1595 when they were discovered and then published by a Benedictine named Arnold de Wyon as a part of his history of the Benedictine order. The prophecies are supposed to list the Popes in order and provide some information on the nature of their leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.

Needless to say they are in no way to be compared to Bible prophecy and have been the subject of much debate over the years. What has impressed many is their appearance of accuracy in describing the Papal reigns of the various Popes. According to the current list of Popes, the next Pope will be the last one, the 112th Pope on the list.

Peter the Roman

Here is an English translation from the Latin concerning the last Pope: “112 Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end.”

Is any of this conclusive, and the answer to that is no, it is not. There is even debate over the authenticity of the 112th Pope as being part of Saint Malachy’s original list; some say it was a later addition to the list.

I mention it because as a part of the overall scene it provides some additional insight into the times in which we live. Just as the world didn’t come to an end on December 21, 2012, the next Pope may not actually be the last one; time will tell.

This week’s meteor exploding over Russia did bring a verse to mind; in Acts 2:19 Peter is speaking of the end times and says, “I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.”

We live in interesting times, do we not?