Was the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI predicted in papal prophecy?<\/p>\n
Stating health and age as reasons for his sudden resignation, 85-year-old German-born Pope Benedict XVI made his surprise announcement on Monday, becoming the first pope in more than 700 years to step down from the papacy.\u00a0 The last pope to step down willingly was Celestine V in 1294.<\/p>\n
While Pope Benedict\u2019s sudden announcement sent shock waves through the Church, an article by Jerome Corsi in WND Faith<\/a> reports that the authors of the book, \u201cPetrus Romanus:\u00a0 The Final Pope is Here,\u201d<\/a> predicted that Pope Benedict would \u201cresign for health reasons\u201d sometime in either 2012 or 2013.\u00a0 Co-authors Tom Horn and Cris Putnam based their prediction on a 900-year-old papal prophecy known as the \u201cProphecy of the Popes\u201d<\/a> in combination with \u201ca host of historical and current information.\u201d<\/p>\n The Prophecy of the Popes \u201cis 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\u201d according to Wikipedia.\u00a0 The prophecies have been attributed to Saint Malachy, a 12th<\/sup>-century Archbishop and saint who supposedly received descriptions of the 112 popes in a prophetic vision.\u00a0 According to legend, St. Malachy warned there would be a \u201cfinal pope,\u201d known as Peter the Roman (Petrus Romanus), who would bring about the destruction of Rome as well as the beginning of the Apocalypse.<\/p>\n SEE VIDEO: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nouJrREf3iQ&feature=player_embedded<\/a><\/p>\n There is conjecture regarding the Prophecy of the Popes, however.\u00a0 Although the prophetic list was said to have been compiled in the 12th<\/sup> century by St. Malachy, there is no mention of it in any scholarly articles prior to 1595, when it was published.\u00a0 Publication is attributed to a Benedictine monk by the name of Arnold de Wyon, who gave credit for the prophecies to St. Malachy.\u00a0 Supposedly the original Prophecy of the Popes was placed in the Vatican Archives where it was forgotten until its discovery in 1590.\u00a0 Confusing the matter more, St. Bernard of Clairvaux,<\/a> a French abbot and central biographer of St. Malachy (\u201cThe Life of St. Malachy\u201d) did not mention the prophecies in his writings.<\/p>\n According to the WND article, Horn and Putnam say they \u201ctook a critical view of the Prophecy of the Popes and determined that the first part of it, the first 70 or so predictions, probably was altered in the late 16th<\/sup> century,\u201d which would correspond to the timing of publication by Arnold de Wyon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears that somebody had altered the original medieval document from 1590 backward to promote a particular cardinal to the College of Cardinals to be the fulfillment of what at that time was still a secret list of popes,\u201d Horn explained.\u00a0 Because of this tinkering, the co-authors \u201cdisregard everything pre-1595 as partly or fully tainted,\u201d but consider the post-1595 prophecies open for scrutiny and interpretation.<\/p>\n Based on interpretation, Pope Benedict XVI could be viewed as fitting the description of the second-to-last pope (111th<\/sup>) before Petrus Romanus.\u00a0 Malachy described the 111th<\/sup> pope as \u201cGloria Olivae,\u201d or \u201cGlory of the Olive.\u201d <\/a> Although not a Benedictine, Pope Benedict XVI took the name Benedict in honor of the Founder of the Order of Saint Benedict, also known as the Olivetans.<\/p>\n So will the next pope be the last pope, and will he become Petrus Romanus (Peter the Roman)?\u00a0 \u00a0According to latest news reports regarding papal successors, the leading candidate appears to be Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, the current president of the Pontiff Council for Justice and Peace.\u00a0 Not exactly Peter the Roman, or is he?\u00a0 Fellow cardinals have given Turkson the nickname, \u201cPeter the Roman.\u201d<\/p>\n Could there be some truth to the legend of the Prophecy of the Popes, or have the \u201cend of the world\u201d theories of 2012 transformed themselves into a new form in 2013 with the Prophecy of the Popes?\u00a0 Oddly, just hours after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, a large bolt of lightning struck the top of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in Vatican City.<\/p>\n