Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday morning that he would be stepping down as the head of the Catholic Church, making him the first Pope to step down rather than die in the position in more than 600 years. A new pope will be selected by the end of March. There will undoubtedly be much speculation about who will take over the reigns of the Catholic Church, but one thing that we can look to for some guidance about who might be the the next pope are the infamous papal prophecies of St. Malachy. St. Malachy, the first Irish saint, had a vision of the next 112 popes. We've had 111 since, and are on the verge of seeing No. 112, which Malachy says will be the final pope before the end of the world as we know it.
In 1139, Malachy was Archibishop and traveled to Rome from ireland to give an account of his affairs. While in Rome, Malachy received a vision about the future which included the name of every pope, 112 in total, from his time until the end of time. We currently are at the end of the second to last prophecy, with Benedict XVI at the helm.
St. Malachy had written about the 112th pope:
"In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End."
St. Malachy prophesized that the final pope would be "Peter the Roman", which is interesting because no pope to date has chosen the name of Peter out of respect for Peter the Apostle. There has also been speculation that the final pope would be black.
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