Originally posted by robertfenix
either way Gazork, by ill health, being too old or he gets murdered the Vatican thought about all those options and selected the candidate that would
best fullfill the prophecy.
Why would the Vatican want to fullfill this prophecy? It's about the end of the church, it's not something they'd be looking forward to is it?
Malachi was canonized as a Saint, so his prophecies have a lot of weight in the church - so much so that they added the last section to 'comfort the
flock'. It doesn't refer to a future pope, it refers to the church itself - protecting it's flock until the end.
If Malachi didn't write it (there's proof he didn't by comparing the original), he never said it was the end of the world, tribulation, etc. He
simply said this was the last pope in his vision, and that means the church ends or the office of 'pope' ends. The church would rather have you
believe that it'll be around right up until the last trumpet sounds, and that's what they're saying in the addition to the prophecy.
"Petrus Romanus" = "The Rock of Rome"
not "Peter the Roman".
My translation: In extreme persecution, the Rock of Rome, the seat
of the Holy Roman Church will feed it's flock until the day of the great judgement ----
In other words, don't panic we'll always be here, popes
or no popes.
It seems to me they can't escape this prophecy even if they tried, Ratzinger claims to have based his whole life's ideals on Benedict XV and has
already chosen "Peace" as his personal motto for his papacy - his papal coat of arms should be released soon, if not already, and odds are it'll
have an olive branch on it.