Pope Benedict dies: Are We Reaching the End of Time?

In 1595, a Benedictine monk named Arnold de Wyon published  Lignum Vitae – in which he claimed to have “discovered The Prophecy of the Popes,” which were originally written by St. Malachy, the Archbishop of Armagh in 1143. In 1871, Abbé Cucherat, in his book The Prophecies of the Succession of the Popes , tells us that in 1139 Malachy was “summoned to Rome Pope Innocent II to receive two wool palliums for the metropolitan sees of Armagh and Cashel.”

While in Rome, Malachy is said to have experienced a “vision of future popes,” which he recorded as a sequence of cryptic phrases describing their personality traits. St. Malachy allegedly gave his manuscript to Innocent II and the document remained unknown in the Roman Archives until its discovery in 1590.

Examining the Papal Prophecy

The first pope listed after St. Peter was Ex caſtro Tiberis, who is noted as having lived in a “castle on the Tiber.” Regarding the final Pope, de Wyon claimed that Malachy wrote an apocalyptic statement which translates from Latin as:

“In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit. [sic] 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.”

When the text was discovered in 1595 it caused great intrigue and carried an air of legitimacy because so many of Malachy’s descriptions matched those of previous Popes. To many, the resignation of Benedict XVI in 2013 or the day he died 31/12/2022 indicated the beginning of the End of Days – also as prophesied.

However, not a shred of tangible evidence exists to associate Malachy with the prophecy, and the “original document” that de Wyon claimed to have “found” in the Vatican Secret Archives has never been seen by anyone else, ever. Soon after its discovery, many Catholic scholars deemed it as a contemporary forgery, however many others have continued to believe in the document’s authenticity.

Skeptics argue that historically when people had prophetic visions they told a lot of people, but Malachy apparently didn’t mention his vision to a soul, nor did his biographer, St. Bernard of Clairvaux; who documented several of Malachy’s other alleged miracles. And, depending on how you interpret the prophecy, Benedict XVI is not the 111th pope! Ten antipopes are listed among the “112 Popes” – so it is argued that Benedict XVI was the 101st pope.

The Papal Prophecy – Real or Forgery?

Among the historians who maintained that the prophecies were a late 16th‑century forgery, Spanish monk and scholar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro wrote Teatro Crítico Universal  between 1724–1739. In an entry entitled ‘Purported prophecies’ he observed a “high level of accuracy in the descriptions of the popes until the date they were published” … then, a “high level of inaccuracy after the publication date.” Friar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro was a Spanish monk and scholar who led the Age of Enlightenment in Spain and debunked myths and superstitions. This observation convinced him the prophecy was “created just before its publication.”

Having established that the prophecy was most probably a hoax, why were the prophecies created in the first place? A theory was forward by a 17th-century French priest Louis Moréri in his encyclopedia Le Grand Dictionnaire historique which suggested “supporters of Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli created them in a bid to support his bid to become pope in the 1590s.” His evidence was in that the prophecies predicted the pope that would follow Urban VII was “Ex antiquitate Urbis” (“from the old city”), and Simoncelli was from Orvieto, which in Latin is Urbevetanum “old city” (Miller, 1981).

Writing extensively about the prophecy being a forgery, M. J. O’Brien, a Catholic priest who authored an 1880 monograph on the prophecies said: “These prophecies have served no purpose. They are absolutely meaningless. The Latin is bad. It is impossible to attribute such absurd triflings … to any holy source. Those who have written in defence of the prophecy have brought forward scarcely an argument in their favour. Their attempts at explaining the prophecies after 1590 are, I say with all respect, the sorriest trifling” (O’Brien, 1880).

What Does the Popes Prophecy Say of Today and Tomorrow?

If the list of descriptions is matched directly to a list of historic popes since its publication, Benedict XVI (2005–13) corresponds to the second last noted pope, described as “Gloria olivae” (the glory of the olive). 

And the final prophecy predicts the Apocalypse: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit Peter the Roman [as bishop], who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations (COVID-19, War in Ukraine, coming war between Israel and Iran) and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills [i.e. Rome] will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The End.”

Check out —> Prophecy of the Popes- The Last Popes.

Source: Ancient Origins

Six Signs of the End Time

The Six Signs of the End Time

1. FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS

Matthew 24:5 “For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many.” Matthew 24:11 “And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.” In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist.

Many New Age groups, some even NGO’s working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace. Read : The List of False Prophets !

2. WARS

Matthew 24:6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.” Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources. Matthew 24:7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.

3. FAMINES

Matthew 24:7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.” As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Zimbabwe in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food. Read : Hunger kills 17,000 kids daily !!!

4. EARTHQUAKES

Matthew 24:7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.” The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.

5. TRIBULATIONS

Matthew 24:8-9 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name.” Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school.

However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.

6. THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.” This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet.

People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.

Six Signs of the End Time

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