Pope Benedict XVI’s recent resignation that surprised many observers, sparked another controversy inadvertently known as the “Prophecy of the Popes“ (see video).  Wikipedia informs: “The Prophecy of the Popes is a series of of 112 short, cryptic phrases in Latin which purport to predict the Roman Catholic popes (along with a few antipopes), beginning with Pope Celestine II. The prophecies were first published by Benedictine Arnold de Wyon in 1595. Wyon attributes the prophecies to Saint Malachy, the 12th‑century Archbishop of Armagh. Given the very accurate description of popes up to 1590 and lack of accuracy after that point, historians have generally concluded that the prophecies were written shortly before they were published.” 

The present writer reacted to the news much as Alan Boyle, Senior Editor at NBC NEWS, in article, “Why the buzz over St. Malachy’s ‘last pope’ prophecy outdoes 2012 hype,” “just when you thought it was safe to go out of the bunker, there’s a fresh wave of doomsday buzz over a purported 12th-century prophecy suggesting that the next pope will be the last pope before the end of
the world.”

Boyle points out, however, there are hints vision shouldn’t be believed:

“‘There are just a number of red flags,’ Sister Madeleine Grace, a historical theologian at the University of St. Thomas who specializes in medieval texts, told NBC News. ‘The material that implies they’re talking about future popes is rather scanty indeed, and there are factual errors. … The likelihood is that they’re some kind of forgery.’

One of the biggest red flags is that no mention was made about the papal prophecies until the 1590s — not even by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a close friend of Malachy’s who wrote his biography and hailed his gift of prophecy.”

The present writer suspects predictive programming to acclimate us to a directed end. Jerome Corsi asks loaded question in title of his recent article, “‘Final pope’ already running Vatican?“ “Did Pope Benedict XVI line up his successor and then resign to fulfill a 900-year-old prophecy that the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church would be history’s final pope?’”

Corsi seems to run with ball already passed from Tom Horn and Chris Putnam in their book, ““Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope is Here”:

“Horn and his co-author, Cris Putnam, accurately predicted Benedict would become the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign. Horn believes the last pope, called “Petrus Romanus” in the prophecy by Irish Archbishop St. Malachy, could be the man who is set to take over interim leadership the moment Benedict resigns Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. local time, becoming the acting Vatican head of state. The claim centers on Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro (Peter in English) Evasio Bertone, born in Romano Canavese, Piedmont, the current secretary of state for the Vatican, who Pope Benedict XVI appointed Camerlengo, or Chamberlain, of the Holy Roman Church April 4, 2007. In the period known as “sede vacante,” when there is no sitting pope, Bertone will be called upon as Camerlengo to serve as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.”

The present writer suffers vision of at least weeks more of hearing about St. Malachy and Cardinal Bertone AKA Peter the Roman.  Boyle makes best comment on current doomsday affair, “which means we might have to deal with 2012-style doomsaying as long as the next guy is in office. What do you think?”