Lightning strikes Vatican after Pope resignation: harbinger of Papacy's end?

On Monday morning, Pope Benedict announced his plan to retire at the end of February, sending shockwaves through the Catholic Church. The Pope cited his deteriorating health as the reason for his coming retirement, but that didn’t prevent speculation over his real reason for retiring. After all, a Pope hasn’t retired for nearly 600 years despite debilitating health conditions, so why start now? Speculation has focused on increasing pressure over the Vatican’s decades’ long protection of priests committing child abuse, the growing scandal over Vatican banking and finances, and intense infighting between the conservative and progressive wings of the Catholic Church. A Catholic saint has even been cited who prophesized that there would be a final Pope before the dissolution of the Catholic Church. The final Pope, “Petros Romanus” would reign during the dissolution of the Papacy and the Catholic Church. What possible events could lead to the dissolution of the Catholic Church as a world-wide institution? As if divinely timed to emphasize the magnitude of events about to unfold, lightning struck the Vatican later that evening after the Pope’s morning announcement.

St Malachy was the first Irish saint to be canonized by a Pope. It is claimed that circa 1139 AD, he received a vision while summoned on a trip to Rome by Pope Innocent II. In his vision, he received cryptic phrases about 112 future popes beginning with Pope Celestine II (elected in 1143). St Malachy allegedly wrote 112 short phrases, the Prophesy of the Popes, describing characteristics of each Pope. According to supporters of the authenticity of Prophesy of the Popes, St Malachy has been accurate up to Pope Benedict who was the 111th Pope on the list. The next and final Pope would be Petrus Romanus (Peter the Roman).

Critics point out that the Vatican itself regards the Prophesy of the Popes as a 16th century forgery since the first record of it was in 1595 when it appeared in a book by Arnold de Wyon, Lignum Vitæ. Critics go on to claim that the Prophesy of the Popes was very likely written by none other than Nostradamus (1503-1566) who wanted to protect himself from Vatican retaliation for speculating about the end of the Papacy. Nevertheless during the Papacy of Piux X (1903-1914), the Catholic Encyclopedia, wrote a passage which accepted that the Prophesy of the Popes was possibly genuine. Either the Prophesy of the Popes was written circa 1139 by St Malachy, or was written during the 16th century by an unknown forger (most likely Nostradamus). The Prophesy of the Popes, therefore, ranges in age from just over 400 years old, to nearly 900 years. In either case, the Prophesy of the Popes is an extraordinary document that has generated speculation and debate for centuries. So what does it say about the dissolution of the Papacy and the end of the Catholic Church?

Here is what the Prophesy of the Popes says about the final Pope:

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.

At the time of the writing of the Prophesy of the Popes, Rome, the city of seven hills, was synonymous with the Vatican, the Papacy and the Catholic Church as an institution. The destruction of Rome, the city of seven hills, is therefore an allegorical way for describing the end of the Vatican and the Papacy, rather than the physical destruction of the city of Rome. So what possible event could bring an end to the Papacy and the Catholic Church?

Certainly the sex scandal afflicting the Catholic Church and financial impropriety of the Vatican banking system deeply affect the Church’s image and operations. These might at best qualify as “tribulations,” rather than events that would bring about “the end” as prophesied by St Malachy or Nostradamus. So did Pope Benedict have fore knowledge of events that could bring an end to the Papacy?

One possibility is an incident that occurred in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 which Pope Benedict played a role in interpreting for the rest of the world in April 2000. Fatima was an alleged UFO encounter witnessed by thousands where three young children received apparitions of the Virgin Mary and were told three secrets about the future – one of which appeared to confirm St Malachy’s vision of the end of the Catholic Church. Would extraterrestrials play a role in the end of the Catholic Church and the establishment of a new spiritual belief system that replaces organized religion? The lightning bolt after the Pope’s announcement seemed to be a harbinger of such a fantastic possibility.

Clink link for Part II Pope resignation & Fatima secret: destruction of Catholic Church prophesied

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