page_title: Prophecy of the Popes
section_title: Interpretation
hierarchical_section_title: Prophecy of the Popes / Interpretation
caption_attribution_description: Pope Caelestinus II.jpg
context_page_description: The Prophecy of the Popes is a series of 112 short, cryptic phrases in Latin which purport to predict the Roman Catholic popes, beginning with Celestine II. It was first published in 1595 by Benedictine monk Arnold Wion, who attributed the prophecy to Saint Malachy, a 12th-century archbishop of Armagh.
  Given the very accurate description of popes up to around 1590 and lack of accuracy for the popes that follow, historians generally conclude that the alleged prophecy is a fabrication written shortly before publication. The Catholic Church has no official stance, though some Catholic theologians have dismissed it as forgery.
  The prophecy concludes with a pope identified as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will allegedly precede the destruction of the city of Rome.
context_section_description: The interpretation of the entries for pre-publication popes provided by Wion involves close correspondences between the mottos and the popes' birthplaces, family names, personal arms, and pre-papal titles. For example, the first motto, Ex castro Tiberis (from a castle on the Tiber), fits Celestine II's birthplace in Città di Castello, on the Tiber.
  Efforts to connect the prophecy to historical popes who were elected after its publication have been more strained. For example, Clement XIII is referred to as Rosa Umbriae (the rose of Umbria), but was not from Umbria nor had he any but the most marginal connection with the region, having been briefly pontifical governor of Rieti, at the time part of Umbria.
  One writer notes that among the post-publication (post-1595) popes there remain "some surprisingly appropriate phrases", while adding that "it is of course easy to exaggerate the list's accuracy by simply citing its successes", and that "other tags do not fit so neatly". Among the reported "successes" are "Light in the sky" for Leo XIII (1878–1903), with a comet in his coat of arms; "Religion depopulated" for Benedict XV (1914–22) whose papacy included World War One and the atheistic communist Russian Revolution; and "Flower of flowers" for Paul VI (1963–78), with fleur-de-lys in his coat of arms.
  Peter Bander, then Head of Religious Education at Wall Hall teacher training college, wrote in 1969:
  If we were to place the works of those who have repudiated the Prophecies of Malachy on scales and balance them against those who have accepted them, we would probably reach a fair equilibrium; however, the most important factor, namely the popularity of the prophecies, particularly among the ordinary people (as distinct from scholars), makes them as relevant to the second half of the twentieth century as they have ever been.
  — Bander 1969, p. 10.
  M. J. O'Brien, a Catholic priest who authored an 1880 monograph on the prophecy, provided a more scathing assessment:
  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, p. 110.
caption: Celestine II (d. 1144), the first pope mentioned in the prophecies.
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