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The prophecy was first published in 1595 by Arnold de Wyon, a Benedictine historian, as part of his book Lignum Vitæ.  Wyon attributed the list to Saint Malachy, the 12th-century bishop of Armagh in Ireland. According to the traditional account, in 1139, Malachy was summoned to Rome by Pope Innocent II.  While in Rome, Malachy purportedly experienced a vision of future popes, which he recorded as a sequence of cryptic phrases.  This manuscript was then deposited in the Roman Archive, and thereafter forgotten about until its rediscovery in 1590.

On the other hand, Bernard of Clairvaux's biography of Malachy makes no mention of the prophecy, nor is it mentioned in any record prior to its 1595 publication.  This has led to many, including the most recent editions of the Catholic Encyclopedia, suggesting that the prophecy is a late 16th-century forgery.  Some have suggested they were created by Nostradamus and credited to Saint Malachy so the purported seer would not be blamed for the destruction of the papacy.  Supporters, such as author John Hogue, who wrote a popular book titled The Last Pope about the claims, generally argue that even if the author of the prophecies may be uncertain, the predictions made are still valid.

Popes and corresponding mottos

Contemporary Popes and the Prophecy

The motto means "ardent" or "burning fire". The pope was known for his great personal piety and strong devotion to the church, advocating reforms such as the codification of Canon law, daily communion and the Gregorian chant in the Catholic liturgy.

The motto means "religion laid waste". During Pope Benedict XV's reign, two significant events occurred: World War I, which killed 15 million people in Europe, and the October Revolution in Russia, which established the atheist Soviet Union.

The motto means "intrepid faith". This pope released the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge which condemned Nazi racism and also signed agreements with fascist Italy which, among other things, gave the Vatican sovereignty, established the pope as head of state, and added 700 million lire to the church coffers.

The motto means "an angelic shepherd". This pope was known to be very mystical, and it was believed that he received visions. His writings added greatly to understanding of Catholic beliefs and church doctrine.

"Pastor et Nauta" translates to "Shephard and Sailor". Prior to his election he was patriarch of Venice, which is a maritime city, famous for its waterways and gondolas.

According to Peter Bander in The Prophecies of Malachy (TAN Books and Publisher, 1969) during the conclave which was to elect John XXIII, a certain Cardinal from the United States, (Cardinal Spellman of New York) evidently having taken Malachy's forecast that the next pope would be "pastor and mariner" literally, rented a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber.

The anti-pope Pius XIII of the True Catholic Church has also claimed to be Pastor et Nauta, as their group believes that his last valid predecessor was Pius XII. He has used justifications including his residence in the United States, which is across the Atlantic Ocean from Rome.

Pope Paul VI, who reigned from 1963-1978, is described in the prophecies as Flos florum (flower of flowers). His personal arms bore three fleurs-de-lis, the well-known symbol in flags and heraldry used to represent the French monarchy. "Fleur-de-lis" literally means "flower of lily". However, this disregards all the other papal arms that had flowers on them as well.

De medietate Lunae translates to "of the half-moon". It could also be interpreted as de media aetate lunae, meaning of the average age of the moon. Albino Luciani, who later became Pope John Paul I, was born in Canale d'Agordo, diocese of Belluno (the name is similar to bella luna, beautiful moon). He was elected on 26 August 1978, the day after the moon reached its last quarter, and reigned for 33 days, approximately five days longer than a lunar cycle. He died the day before the new moon. However, a much simpler explanation might be that he was born on the day of the half moon: on 17 October 1912, the moon was in its first quarter. Others point to his name before becoming pope, Albino Luciani: Albino is related to albus, white, and Luciani, although derived in fact from Lucius, looks like it might be from lux, lucis, light; whence "white light".

The prophetic motto corresponding to Pope John Paul II is De labore Solis, which literally means "Of the labour of the sun", but "labores solis" ("travails of the sun") is a not uncommon metaphor used to mean solar eclipse. Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul II was born on 18 May 1920 during a partial solar eclipse (over the Indian Ocean), and buried on 8 April 2005, the day of a rare "hybrid" eclipse (over the south-western Pacific and South America). He might also be seen to be the fruit of the intercession of the Woman Clothed with the Sun labouring in Revelation 12 (because of his devotion to the Virgin Mary).

It has also been suggested that the associated Latin phrase could also be an anagram for de borealis sol, of the northern sun, being a luminary coming from Poland to the north. (It should be noted, though, that the phrase "de borealis sol" is agrammatical and meaningless in Latin; the correct phrase for "of the northern sun" should be "de boreali sole"). Another interpretation points simply to the sun rising in the east and his being the first Pope from Eastern Europe. Yet another is that he was the first Pope to go around the world, as the Sun seems to do. A further theory is that the combination of labore and solis cryptically refers to "the sun of the workers", i.e., the star of communism, with John Paul being the only pope to have spent much of his life under a communist regime.

During World War II Pope John Paul II worked in a quarry (laboring in the sunlight).

It is also theorized that the prophetic motto falls in line with the fact that Pope John Paul II was the most travelled Pope in history. He went around the world multiple times, like 'labour' of the sun.

Gloria Olivae, glory of the olive, is the next phrase following De labore Solis. Prior to the papal conclave, this motto led to speculation that the next pontiff would be from the Order of Saint Benedict, whose symbols include the olive branch. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, elected in April 2005, is not a Benedictine, but did choose Benedict XVI as his regnal name, which might be regarded as a fulfillment of this prophecy.

It must be noted that, possibly thanks to the Prophecy, the betting site PaddyPower accurately predicted that Benedict would have the highest probability of being the future papal name.

Yet there can also be a different meaning. By choosing the name Benedict, the Pope became linked with St. Benedict, who in turn is distantly connected to the Olivetans, a small sub-order of Benedictines. (Although it is frequently stated that the Order of St Benedict is also known as that of the Olivetans, this is not true: while all Olivetans are Benedictines, almost no Benedictines are Olivetans.)

Pope Benedict XVI was born on 16 April, the feastday of Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (26 March 1748 - 16 April 1783), also known as the Holy Pilgrim, with whom the Pope now shares both names, Benedict and Joseph. St. Benedict Labre, however, is not associated with olives, Olivetans or Mount Olivet in any way.

Yet another possible interpretation might be that, like his predecessor - who spoke of the Church needing to 'breathe with both lungs' again - Pope Benedict XVI has a special desire to reunite the eastern orthodox churches, separated since 1054, with the Roman Church. The olive can of course be taken as a symbol of Greece, and hence the Greek Orthodox Church (and - by extension - the Russian Orthodox Church which grew out of it). If indeed it turns out that reunion with the 'olive' churches is achieved during Benedict's pontificate (the last time, if only briefly, was at the Council of Florence, the seventeenth Ecumenical Council, 1438-1445; the Union was intensely unpopular at Constantinople and fell apart after her fall in 1453), it would truly be a glorious achievement worthy of St Malachy's phrase, 'Gloria Olivae'.

Another interpretation was that Gloria Olivae would promote world peace, as symbolised by the olive branch. In a general audience on 27 April 2005, Benedict XVI explained that he chose his regnal name as a link to Benedict XV, Religio depopulata, and that "In his footsteps I place my ministry, in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples, profoundly convinced that the great good of peace is above all a gift of God, a fragile and precious gift to be invoked, safeguarded and constructed, day after day and with everyone's contribution".

Also, Pope Benedict XVI is widely expected to restore order and discipline (namely, the rule, Latin regula) within the Catholic church (the sheepfold, L. ovilis, whence ovilia, the place where the sheep lay to rest). This is an imperfect and ungrammatical anagram (de regola ovilia - of the rule of the sheepfold) for the counter-reformation he is expected to introduce to counter the misinterpretations of Vatican Council II.

There was a coincidence of two events, both connected to the olive, but unrelated to each other, with the 2005 Conclave: On April 18, a Turkish presidential candidate won the northern Cyprus elections favouring re-unification peace talks of the two sectors; the flag of Cyprus has two inter-locking olive branches in it. Secondly, on April 20, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was forced to resign and later form a new government as a result of pressure from the leftist opposition called l'Ulivo ("The Olive Tree").

Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, the late self-proclaimed Pope of the Palmarian Catholic Church also used to claim that he was the glory of the olive.

Ominously, the longest and final motto reads, "In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oues in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis ciuitas septicollis diruetur, & Iudex tremêdus iudicabit populum suum. Finis." (During the final persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed his sheep in many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed, and the terrible Judge will judge his people. The End.)

Several men claiming to be Pope Peter II have emerged in recent years, probably inspired by this motto.

There are several interpretations regarding the last Popes listed by St. Malachy taken by those who believe the prophecies:

• Regarding whether additional Popes, not listed by St. Malachy occur between Gloria Olivae and Petrus Romanus the following differing views are held:
  1. Gloria Olivae is immediately followed by Petrus Romanus.
  2. Because no number is assigned to Petrus Romanus, he and Gloria Olivae might be one and the same pope.
  3. Because no number is assigned to Petrus Romanus, any number of popes could intervene between these two popes.

• Regarding whether the Papacy ends with Petrus Romanus, the following differing views are held:
  1. Petrus Romanus will be the final Pope. The end of his papacy will mark either the end of the papacy, the end of the Roman Catholic Church, the Church's final triumph, and/or the end of this world (Apocalypse | End of the world | Armageddon | Eschatology).
  2. There will be additional Popes following Petrus Romanus, about which Malachy did not write. There is also the possibility that these additional popes might be considered antipopes, which could justify their omission in St. Malachy's eyes (However, several antipopes are mentioned in the Prophecy.)

According to some sources, this final motto was not a part of the original prophecy but was added in the early 19th century by a publisher. Some who agree with this hold the view that Gloria Olivae is therefore the final pope.

From Wikipedia contributors (2006). Prophecy of the Popes. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:11, January 10, 2006