Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, was confirmed as the new pontiff earlier today (8 May), mere weeks after Pope Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday (April 22).
The sight of white smoke drifting from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney should bring joy to Catholics as well as people in America and Peru, where Pope Leo XIV spent the majority of his lifetime.
However, one group of people is hesitant to support the choice of a new pope.
That’s right, folks, enjoy Pope Leo XIV’s election while you can, since a rediscovered 100-year-old prophecy claims the 69-year-old will be the last Bishop of Rome.
As some of you may be aware, we previously discussed the resurrection of a manuscript titled ‘Prophecy of the Popes’ that was reportedly authored in the 1100s by a man named Saint Malachy, also known as just ‘Malachy’ during his lifetime.
Saint Malachy’s forecasts for mankind do not end well, as is the case with most books that begin with the term ‘prophecy’.
According to Malachy’s essay, there would be an additional 112 popes after his lifetime.
The list concludes with an unsettling reference to a man named ‘Peter the Roman’ who serves as Bishop of Rome at the end times.
According to the Bible, Peter the Roman’s tenancy is as follows: “Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are completed, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people.” “The end.”
Of course, doubters would point out that ‘Peter the Roman’ does not sound like Pope Leo XIV. The pontiff’s full birthname, Robert Francis Prevost, does not even include the name Peter. So it’s safe to assume Saint Malachy was off the mark on that one.
The text also gets his nationality wrong, as Pope Leo XIV holds both American and Peruvian citizenship, not Italian, as a moniker such as ‘the Roman’ would suggest.
Meanwhile, others have speculated that the late Pope Francis was the fateful ‘Peter the Roman’, although this hypothesis has been thoroughly debunked for identical grounds over the years.
In 2013, Josh Canning, director of Toronto’s Chaplaincy at the Newman Centre, told Global News, “I don’t know how you can connect Peter the Roman with Pope Francis.”
So if we wake up tomorrow to comets raining down from the sky and nuclear missiles flying left and right, I’ll gladly lift my hands up and admit I was wrong.
But, for the time being, I believe Pope Leo XIV is preoccupied with concerns other than a prophesy penned by a man named Saint Malachy.