Who Wrote The List Of Future Popes - Nostradamus Or Saint Malachy?

Saint Malachy (1049 - 1148) was a 12-century Irish priest who had predicted the number of future Popes with stunning accuracy. Each Pope received a short descriptive motto in Latin such as: Ex Castro Tiber (The Castle on the River Tiber). Saint Malachy had allegedly a vision of the future lineage of Popes, so he wrote it down and gave it to the Vatican.

Arnold de Wion allegedly found the Malachy's original manuscript in the Vatican and included it in his book Lignum Vitae, which was published in 1595.

We cannot believe just anything. Opponents argue that the Malachy's list is a fake that elaborated the above Belgian priest, Arnold de Wion, some 447 years later. However, the Malachy's (or de Wion's?) prophetic motto (ascribed to every Pope) marks every Pope with his unique attributes which really correspond with those factual ones that the succeeding Popes really had following the year 1595.

There are two versions of the Malachy's list - one contains 111 and another one 112 Popes. The list of the future Popes ends with the number 111 (or 112 if we consider another list), and critics argue that not Malachy, but someone else put the 112th Pope into the list many years later. This is possible, because the list had been kept unnoticed in the Vatican's archives for more than 400 years. After its rediscovery the Vatican authorities said that the list had been a fake.

The last Pope, however, is not numbered. The prophetic motto about Petrus Romanus may be longer than all other mottos and this gives us a feeling that the number is missing (Gloria Olivae).

The list of Popes that Malachy had predicted can be found in English Wikipedia.

Critics also say that Nostradamus created the list and camouflaged his identity, because the Catholic Church was very oppressive in those times - all people with certain extraordinary (psychic) abilities were persecuted. Thus, Nostradamus might use de Wion as a disguise.

The motto for the last Pope (Petrus Romanus - either the 111th Pope marked with motto Gloria Olivae and expanded with yet another motto; or the 112th Pope, but not numbered as other Popes) is: In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations; when they are over, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible or fearsome Judge will judge his people. The End.

"The city of seven hills" is the city of Rome - and most probably also the world's (Christian) system (of power) as we know it. There is, too, uncertainty about the word "persecutione". Arnold de Wion used an abbreviation "psecutione", which means both persecution and the duration of time - "prosecutione." The original Malachy's list ends with the number 111 (with motto: Gloria Olivae).

It is known that Pope Benedict XVI comes from the Olivetan order, which was founded around the year 1313. Pope John Paul II, the 110th Pope in the order, is described with motto Labor de Solis (From the Work of the Sun) - he was indeed born on the day of solar eclipse.

The name Petrus Romanus is not in the original Malachy's list.

Nostradamus' prophecies are written in verses (so-called Quatrains), which are very difficult to understand, and their interpretation can have a hundred directions. One argument that supports the notion that Nostradamus disguised himself (as Malachy or de Wion) is the time when the Malachy's prophecy slithered to light - shortly after Nostradamus died (1566) - that is, in the year 1595. The second argument is that Arnold de Wion lived at the same time as Nostradamus and they could know themselves.

Black Pope?

Malachy does not say anything about Black Pope, but one Quatrain (C6Q16) in the book Les Propheties written by Nostradamus may indicate the arrival of Pope that is related to something that entails blackness:
That which will be carried off by the young Hawk, By the Normans of France and Picardy:
The black ones of the temple of the Black Forest place Will make an inn and fire of Lombardy.

Nostradamus' prophecies are divided into centuries (cycles of time). It is clear from the above verses that Nostradamus spoke in riddles. The term "Black Pope" does not come from him but rather from people who tried to decipher his prophetic Quatrains. However, Pope Benedict XVI has a black man in his Coat of Arms (known as Caput Aethiopum in heraldry). Scholars are not yet sure about its origin. The Bavarian district Freising (Germany) has used the head of a crowned black man as its symbol since 1316. Some scholars say that Caput Aethiopum symbolizes Balthazar, one of the Magi Three Wise Men or Three Kings from the East who visited Jesus upon his birth).

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