My Thoughts on Pope Francis' Health and the Malachy Prophecies
I wanted to blog about Pope Francis' health condition. However, the Internet speed has slowed down presumably due to ongoing repairs. WordPress requires faster Internet speed than Blogger. That's why I decided to write here (for now). Hopefully, I'll be able to go back to WordPress when the speed is back. The 88-year-old Pope Francis has been diagnosed with pneumonia. I lost a mid-80s relative to pneumonia.
This reminds me of the sensationalism I got engaged in. It's basically eschatomania. I remember thinking that Pope John Paul II's successor would be the False Prophet. However, Benedict XVI ruled for more than two years, before retiring due to health reasons. Benedict XVI would be too sick to play the role of the False Prophet. Some speculated that Pope Francis may be Petrus Romanus. This is all based on the Malachy Prophecies -- not a very reliable tool for studying Revelation!
Malachy is known today for a set of prophecies, purportedly written by him in 1139, concerning the future line of Popes. His list started with his contemporary, Pope Celestine III and continued through the next 112 Popes. The last Pope would be called Petrus Romanus (“Peter the Roman”), whose reign would end with Judgment Day. Malachy’s vision of the future included a brief, cryptic description of each Pope.
According to Catholic tradition, Malachy’s prophecy remained hidden until AD 1590, when it was first published. It has been a source of conjecture and controversy ever since. The prophecy has recently come into focus again because of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. According to Malachy’s reckoning, Pope Francis I will be the last.
Here are the final five Popes, according to Malachy:
Flos Florum (“Flower of Flowers”) – Pope Paul VI
De medietate Lunae (“Of the Half Moon”) – Pope Juan Pablo I
De Labore Solis (“From the Toil of the Sun”) – Pope John Paul II
Gloria Olivae (“The Glory of the Olive”) – Pope Benedict XVI
Petrus Romanus (“Peter the Roman”) – Pope Francis I
Some people have found “evidence” that Malachy’s prophecy is true. For example, Paul VI’s coat of arms contained fleur-de-lys, thereby associating him with flowers. Other connections between the prophecy and the Popes are more strained and hardly plausible.
The prophecy of Malachy concerning the final Pope is as follows: “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.” According to Malachy, the final Pope will take the title “Pope Peter the Roman” or a derivative thereof. According to Catholic teaching, the apostle Peter was the first Pope, and, according to Malachy, another Peter will be the final one.
The mention of “persecution” and the destruction of Rome in Malachy’s prophecy have led some to believe that the final Pope will be the Antichrist or the False Prophet of Revelation 19:20. There are others who find a prediction of a “black Pope” in Malachy’s writings.
Because Malachy was immersed in the teachings and dogmas of the Catholic Church, his prophetic utterances and dreams are questionable at best. His prophecy is extra-biblical; for that matter, the whole concept of a “Pope” is extra-biblical. Rather than interpret the end times according to the dreams of a Catholic mystic, we should trust what God’s Word says in the books of Daniel, Revelation, and Zechariah.
The Bible warns about listening to false prophets who speak as though their oracles were given to them by God. Jeremiah 23:32 says, “‘Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,’ declares the Lord. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least.’”
Supposedly, Pope Francis I would be the "final Pope". That is if the Malachy Prophecy is to be ever believed. However, Francis is already too old and too sick to carry out the work as Petrus Romanus. I don't want to continue carrying things out like the late Texe Marrs. Marrs was a sensationalist and KJV-only extremist. Marrs also vilified the Book of Esther. I'm amazed that some people still listen to Marrs' "power of prophecy", when that guy is a quack.
Concerning who could succeed Pope Francis, the Times Now news gives this detail:
Speculation surrounding potential candidates includes several prominent cardinals, such as Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State; Peter Turkson of Ghana, former president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and Luis Tagle, who has served as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples since December 2019 and was previously the Archbishop of Manila. Other possible contenders include Raymond Burke, Cardinals Matteo Zuppi, Gerhard Müller, Angelo Bagnasco, Angelo Scola, Robert Sarah, and Malcolm Ranjith.
Edward Pentin, a longtime senior Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Register, published a book in August 2020 titled "The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates."
In it, he identifies 19 cardinals as frontrunners, including American candidates such as Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, former Archbishop of Boston, and Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri.
Just let me remind readers I don't subscribe to the Historicist View of Revelation. I don't view that every Pope is the Antichrist. The Pope is an antichrist. Pope Francis is an antichrist. 1 John 2:18 says that Antichrist will come and right now, there are many antichrists. We need to distinguish between the Antichrist and an anthcirst. Pope Francis is an antichrist. The next possible Pope (Francis' health is really due to his advanced age) may still be another antichrist.
As a futurist, I'm going to make this clear. I don't believe in the nonsense that futurism was created by the Jesuits themselves. Sure, I did some research on Francisco Ribera. However, Ribera has never been made a blessed or a saint, despite his status as a Jesuit priest. Trying to interpret Revelation the same way that the Reformers did, can be jarring. The Antichrist and False Prophet as two singular beings would be a better interpretation. Believing that every Pope is Antichrist and every Cardinal is the False Prophet, isn't exactly too accurate!
The False Prophet is someone who will never be known until after the Rapture. 2 Thessalonians 2 reveals that the Antichrist will not be revealed until the Rapture hits. In short, stop trying to figure out who the Antichrist is and who he will be. Some speculate that the final Pope will be the Antichrist or the False Prophet. Some argue whether or not the Pope will play the role of the Antichrist or the False Prophet. In my case, I believe that the final Pope will be the False Prophet who will lead the world to worship the Antichrist. The Antichrist is a political force. The False Prophet is a religious force. The Pope seems to fit the work of the False Prophet better than the Antichrist. The Popes have been gathering the world religions every now and then.