The Catholic world is abuzz after the election of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, a 69-year-old American-Peruvian, marking the first time an American has led the Church.<\/p>\n
While most Catholics celebrate, some conspiracy theorists are uneasy, reviving the so-called Prophecy of the Popes<\/em>\u2014a 12th-century prediction attributed to Irish mystic St. Malachy, which claims the 112th pope (dubbed \u201cPeter the Roman\u201d) would be the last. Some are trying to link this figure to Pope Leo XIV, but experts say the connections don\u2019t hold up.<\/p>\n Pope Leo XIV\u2019s name and background don\u2019t match the prophecy, and the same theory was previously (and unsuccessfully) applied to Pope Francis. Scholars widely consider the prophecy a forgery, likely written in the 1500s, with its early predictions aligning more with popes of that era than modern ones.<\/p>\n Interest in the prophecy reignited after Pope Francis\u2019s death on April 21. But historians like Jo\u00eblle Rollo-Koster emphasize there’s no solid evidence St. Malachy ever wrote it.<\/p>\n Though intriguing to some, the prophecy holds little credibility\u2014and Pope Leo XIV begins his papacy not under doom, but under historic significance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Catholic world is abuzz after the election of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, a 69-year-old American-Peruvian, marking the first time an American has led the Church. While most Catholics celebrate, some conspiracy theorists are uneasy, reviving the so-called Prophecy of the Popes\u2014a 12th-century prediction attributed to Irish mystic St. Malachy, which claims…<\/p>\n