A scrap of medieval Latin buried in the Vatican’s archives claims to predict the literal end of the world. It was supposedly written by Saint Malachy, an Irish bishop with an apparent talent for cosmic spoilers. The prophecy—if it’s real and not just the Renaissance version of clickbait—says that the current pope might be the last.
Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes” is a list of 112 cryptic phrases, each allegedly corresponding to a pope from Celestine II in 1143 to Pope Francis today. The final entry is a bit dramatic: it speaks of a leader named “Peter the Roman,” a Church in persecution, and Rome in ruins. Oh, and then Judgment Day. No pressure.
The text was “discovered” in 1595 by Arnold Wion, a Benedictine monk who either stumbled onto a long-lost document or was really good at historical fan fiction. Skeptics argue the prophecy was backdated to make earlier predictions seem accurate while keeping the later ones vague enough to fuel centuries of speculation. It worked.
Now, here’s where things get eerie. A 2024 documentary dug up a passage attributed to Pope Sixtus V, written in 1585: “Axle in the midst of a sign.” Fans of medieval numerology had a field day with this. Sixtus V took office 442 years after the first pope. If that was the “middle” of the timeline, the end would logically arrive… 442 years later. That’s 2027.
So, what does this have to do with Pope Francis? Well, the man is 88, battling chronic lung disease, and has been hospitalized with respiratory complications. Some believe he’s Peter the Roman, the final pope standing between civilization and whatever cosmic disaster Malachy foresaw. Others think his deteriorating health signals the collapse of the papacy itself. Either way, it’s not looking good for 2027.
Of course, not everyone is convinced. Scholars argue that the prophecy is a 16th-century hoax, designed to give certain popes a divine stamp of approval. But even hoaxes have a strange way of taking on a life of their own—especially when they involve the apocalypse.
So, is the world really ending in three years? Probably not. But if you see a guy named Peter taking over the Vatican anytime soon, maybe start crossing off that bucket list.
Five Fast Facts
- Saint Malachy was the first Irishman to be canonized by the Catholic Church.
- Pope Sixtus V once declared that anyone caught stealing from the Vatican Library would be executed.
- The Vatican Secret Archives contain over 50 miles of shelving filled with documents dating back over 1,000 years.
- Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope in history.
- Arnold Wion, the monk who “discovered” the prophecy, was originally compiling a book about Benedictine history—not doomsday predictions.