Steve Berry

With the death of Pope Francis, St. Malachy is back in the news.  His Prophecy of the Popes is a series of 112 short, cryptic phrases which predict the popes (along with a few antipopes), beginning with Celestine II and continuing for the next 266  popes.  It was first published in 1595, though written many centuries earlier.  Here’s the rub.  Given the accurate description of popes up to around 1590, and lack of much accuracy thereafter, historians think the work is fraud.   The Catholic Church has no official stance.  The prophecy concludes with the 267th pope identified as Peter the Roman, and his election supposedly will precede the destruction of Rome.  That pope, the 267th, will be the one selected in the coming weeks.  Should be an interesting conclave coming our way.  All of this was dealt with in great detail in THE THIRD SECRET (which gets a mention in this article).