When a Pope dies, popular broadsheets and the tabloid press extract from their files the prophecies of St. Malachy, who was Archbishop of Armagh around the middle of the 12th century.

From the reign of Celestine II in 1143 until the present day he has given Latin names to 101 successors of St. Peter up to the present Pontiff.

A great many experts feel extremely confident that his predictions are a 15th century forgery, yet even so, many of the elected Pontiffs since then have uncannily fitted Malachy’s prophecies.

Nicholas Breakspear, the only English Pope, who became Adrian IV in 1154, was designated by Malachy as ‘de Rure Albo’ which translates as from ‘the Alban Country’, the medieval name for England or ‘from a white country’.

A few curious facts emerge about this Pope also, which deserve looking at. He was born near St. Alban’s and entered the monastery there, where he became a monk. Furthering his studies, he went to France where Pope Eugenius III perceived him as an able person and gave him the red cardinal hat, making him bishop of Albano.

The first to mention the predictions is Benedictine historian Arnold Wion in his book ‘Lignum Vitae’ which was published in 1559. Following a brief outline on Malachy’s life he then inserted them into his text.

In 1871 Abbe Cucherat put forward the following hypothesis. Malachy had his visions sometime between 1139 and 1140 during a visit to Rome. He felt that they were important enough to commit them to paper and then handed his manuscript to Pope Innocent II to comfort him in his afflictions.
The Holy Father then placed them in the Papal archives, where they remained unread and unseen for the next four centuries. Cucherat does not provide any concrete evidence as to whether in fact this may be true or false.

A great deal is known about Malachy because his biographer was one of his contemporaries, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He described him as humble, meek, modest, obedient and truly diligent in his studies. He then goes on at great length to inform the reader that Malachy predicted the day and hour of his death.

Since the second half of the 19th century the predictions have been universally read and the prophecies that were made almost nine hundred years before, have been interpreted by many historians who, in their own way, attempted to make them palatable to interested readers or denounced them as forgeries.

Since 1939 until the present day there have been six Pontiffs elected to the Papal throne. The following list contains some of Malachy’s predictions, from which you can then draw your own conclusions. Pope Pius XII was ‘Pastor Angelicus’, meaning ‘An Angelic Shepherd’. For millions of oppressed Catholics worldwide he was viewed as an Angelic Pastor to his flock. Pope John XXIII was ‘Pastor et Nauta’ meaning ‘Pastor and Mariner’. He was revered by millions of people, perhaps more so than any previous Pope, although his reign was very brief and he was also Patriarch of Venice, which is a city of sailors. He also chose the symbol of a cross and a ship for the Second Vatican Council.

Paul VI was ‘Flos Florum’, meaning ‘Flower of flowers’. His armorial bearings show three fleurs-de-lis. John Paul I was ‘De Medietate Lunae’, meaning of the half moon. He reigned for thirty-three days.

John Paul II was ‘De Labore Solis’, ‘from the toil of the sun or of the eclipse of the sun’. He was born in 1920 when there was an eclipse of the sun.

The present Pontiff is ‘Gloria Olivae’, ‘the glory of the olive’. The olive branch has always been associated with peace. The Benedictine order is generally known as the ‘Olivetans’ and the Pope chose to call himself Benedict XVI.