Whoever they pick as Pope...just not that African Peter guy

[ButterflyBlood]

I'm not Catholic (raised one, but haven't been to church in a decade, don't identify as it at all, I actually do go to a church now but a non-denominational evangelical one, very different from Catholic), so normally I'd put no bearing or importance on who the Pope is, but picking someone named "Peter" with that prophecy around is just too creepy. And think of how people would react and the possible panics. I put no faith in the Catholic Church to do what's right since their track record is so weak, but I am hoping the cardinals do the responsible thing in not selecting that guy.

[quinnox]

1. what does the prophecy say?

Just curious.

[ButterflyBlood]

2. It lists the last Pope as "Petrus Romanus" (Peter the Roman) and then states this:

"In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit.
Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations:
and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed,
and the terrible judge will judge his people.
The End."

[DireStrike]

10. Though that last line may refer to the penultimate pope (ratzi) rather than petrus romanus

according to one website I read, anyway.

[dballance]

16. I Take it that's from Nostradamus? /nt

[Lucinda]

18. No. St Malachy. n/t

[Squinch]

3. Oh, boy. You're right. I didn't realize there was a Peter in the running.

Jeez.

[dballance]

15. There May Only be One Peter Running but I'm Sure the Rest are Dicks Too /nt

[Squinch]

19. Lots of them! One can only hope that all the dicks will peter. Out.

OK, that joke didn't actually work. I acknowledge it and apologize.

[dballance]

23. I Dunno, I Laughed at it. /nt

[davidpdx]

31. You could say all of them are Peters

Ding dong....

[Motown_Johnny]

4. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

How else would all the other one's have been so accurate?


These people believe in Prophecy. They will see themselves as fulfilling God's will here on Earth.


The smart money is on someone named Peter. How they will try to sell the guy from Ghana as "The Roman" is yet to be seen but I am pretty sure they will find some way to rationalize it.

[ButterflyBlood]

6. Actually the ones up until now haven't really been "accurate"

All the last couple Popes have been only described by a short line, and after every one comes out everyone tries to twist it to get the Pope to fit it. A lot are rather absurd. Interestingly the current one is described as "Glory of the olive.", and the word is that Ratzinger beat Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini on the final ballot, he certainly would've fit better. The stretch to get it to included Ratzinger is he chose the name Benedict after Saint Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order, and that the order's crest includes an olive branch.

FWIW, the Prophecy is almost certainly a 16th century forgery and not one from the 12th century saint it's attributed to, and the Church's official position puts no stock in it.

[Motown_Johnny]

7. oh come on.. play along

spoil sport

[DonViejo]

9. The Pope is the Bishop of Rome..

that's how the Cardinal from Ghana, if elected Pope, becomes a Roman

[Tx4obama]

13. He maybe Bishop of Rome, but I would disagree that it would make him a Roman - because ....

... the Pope resides at Vatican City which is NOT part of Rome.

Vatican City is a landlocked sovereign city-state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_city

[DonViejo]

32. You think legal technicalities matter...

to a conspiracy theorist?

[brewens]

5. Don't they usually choose another name to go by anyway? n/t

[kwassa]

8. Who made this prophecy?

and why do you think prophecies are important?

[ButterflyBlood]

11. The prophecy is attributed to Saint Malachy, but is unlikely to actually come from him

All evidence points toward that it's a forgery from the 16th century, the time it was "discovered". Personally I don't put much importance in such things, but we all know what type of yahoos do.

[Squinch]

20. Which pretty much means "some guy named Larry thought it up."

[DBoon]

29. Sounds like "a lot of Malarchy" to me

nt

[shraby]

12. They spark conversation if nothing else.

[backscatter712]

14. Being an atheist, I put no faith in the Catholic Church, and I put no faith in prophecy.

How many times have "prophets" set a date for the End of the World, only to have us wake up to go to work the day afterwards?

[pinboy3niner]

17. We predicted that you were going to say that

[Squinch]

22. Ha! And it came from Backscatter, also known as the Glory of the Olive!

Just as we expected!!! (The names are synonymous because sometimes you can find olives scattered in your back yard.)

[Hekate]

21. Popes take another name. The current one was christened Joseph, but took the name Benedict as Pope

The birth-name is irrelevant.

[Renew Deal]

24. The pope could take any name

But I can't imagine a pope would take the name Peter, especially with the prophecy out there.

[pinboy3niner]

25. I'm voting for 'Tintinnabula'

It has a nice ring to it.

[Renew Deal]

26. lol

[hedgehog]

27. The prophecy is that he will be the last Pope, not that it is the end of the world.

Does the Catholic Church really need a Pope?

[hedgehog]

28. An old story to lighten the mood:

"Spellman was a firm believer in the prophecies of St. Malachy, the 12th century Irish prophet, and had taken such prophecies about the papacy with the utmost seriousness. St. Malachy had characterized each Pope, from his days onwards, with a Latin tag indicating the basic characteristics of each pontificate. He had distinguished the successor to Pius XII as "Pastor et Nauta", Shepherd and Navigator.

During the Conclave of 1958, Spellman's papal ambitions became the talk of Rome, encapsulated in a current joke. Spellman, so the joke went, had hired a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the river Tiber in the belief that he was helping the fulfillment of the prophecy."

http://www.reformation.org/chapter20.html

[Live and Learn]

30. True, I was hoping we'd get a bit of a break from this end of the world crap. nt