These believers interpret two medieval-era prophecies to mean that the next pope elected will be the last before doomsday. One prophecy allegedly comes from a 12th-century archbishop, the other from no less famed a name than Nostradamus himself. Both could be charitably described as "open to interpretation."
The first set of prophecies, known as the Saint Malachy prophecies, are allegedly written by the saint himself, an archbishop in the 1100s. However, these prophecies weren't published until 1595, when a Benedictine monk claimed to have found them; the Catholic Church does not consider them to be from Saint Malachy's pen.
why not they don't comport with the religious agenda?
Listing the popes
The Saint Malachy prophecies consist of 112 short phrases, each of which has been interpreted to represent a particular pope, in order. The phrases are quite accurate up to about 1590, but get rather vague after that point, lending credence to the suggestion that they are a 16th-century forgery. For example, Pope Adrian IV, who headed the Catholic Church from 1154-1159, is described as "from the white countryside, humbly born in the town of St. Albans," which accurately represents the pope's birthplace in England.Compare that specificity to the post-1590 popes: Leo XI, who was briefly pope in 1605, matches the entry on the list that simply says "wavy man." Benedict XIV (1740-1758) gets the descriptor "country animal." Paul VI (1963-1978) is simply "flower of flowers."That hasn't stopped believers from interpreting the vague phrases to match some event or perceived trait of each pope. Under these interpretations, Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, was pope No. 110, "from the labor of the sun," so defined, believers say, because there were solar eclipses somewhere in the world when John Paul II was born and on the day of his funeral. [History's 10 Most Intriguing Popes]That makes recently retired Benedict XVI, No. 111, the "glory of the olive." Proponents say this descriptor fits because Benedict chose his papal name after the saint who founded the Benedictine Order, which has a branch called the Olivetans (of which Benedict was not one).Benedict XVI's status as No. 111 matters because pope No. 112 is the last on the list. "In the final 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 dreadful judge will judge his people," the line reads. "The End."
i of course have not a clue but the fact of through history those denying everything that does not fit their vision those who didn't adjust are maybe those who proverbaly "are destined to repeat it".
Nostradamus gets involved
These supposed tribulations won't take long, say some believers. According to the crowd-sourced news website Before It's News, the 16th-century apothecary and supposed prophet Nostradamus predicted that the last pope would flee Rome in December when "two suns" seem to appear in the sky. The prophecy is making the rounds online paired with the suggestion that the second "sun" will be Comet ISON, which will come closest to the sun on Nov. 28, 2013.
Nostradamus has been embraced and refuted by those who are in denial of science and things of that nature bandwagon gets crowded when there is something to deny, to bad all that denied and perished were not recorded like Lott's wife and Sodom and Gomorrah pillar of salt? wonder if those that hold on to their guns and Bibles believe that, is it any more questionable or eccentric?
