This article uses the edited version of the motto list that was published by Fr. Messingham in 1624 which contains only 112 mottoes. Fr. Arnold Wion’s list published in 1595 in the LIGNUM VITAE has 113 papal mottoes. Of course the prophecy is invalid based on the list of 112 because that would cast Pope Francis as Petrus Romanus, an idea that makes no sense.
The article says the the mottoes for popes prior to 1590 are forgeries. Yes, we know that. It was proved by Fr. M.J. O’Brien’s research which was published in 1880. Fr. O’Brien found that the list of popes in Wion’s LIGNUM VITAE corresponded “a little too closely” to a papal history published by Panvinius in 1557. Every error that Panvinius made was mirrored in Wion’s list of popes, so the prophecy could not have been written prior to 1557. That fact together with the fact that Fr. Wion had a political motivation for making a motto tor the 1590 papal election indicates that Fr. Wion himself was the author. The hidden benefit here is that we now know that we have what many analysts wanted to see: the original version of the prophecy, and that version is there for all to see in the LIGNUM VITAE, book II, pages 307 to 311.
The question is, “Are the mottoes from 1590 onward valid?” Here it makes no sense to compare the accuracy of the post 1590 mottoes to the ones that are known to have been made after the fact. Of course these would be more accurate. Rather we should look for an unlikely motto (such as “Religio depopulata”) and see if it has been fulfilled.
The article tries to say that a motto can only apply directly to a pope and not to an event that occurred during that pope’s reign. But that idea is belied by the motto for Francis which specifically states: “He will reign in the final persection of the Holy Roman Church.” So a motto can apply to what is happening during a pope’s reign. Motto number 113 for Petrus Romanus is much the same.
The article accuses the list of mottoes as " . .trying to predict the time of the end…" But the mottoes do not point to any specific day or even year. They simply say that the church will have only one more pope after Francis.
In his article Mr. Akins talks about Pope Pius XII and his associated motto, “Pastor angelicus,” but he studiously avoids mentioning the Pope’s autobiographical film and its title of “Pastor Angelicus.” Pius XII’s choice of his Prophecy of the Popes motto constitutes a tacit endorsement. Furthermore, the list of mottoes occurred in a book that was written by a Benedictine monk and approved for publication by the Catholic Church. And in over 400 years time the Church has never disavowed
The article makes the rediculous and desperate claim that the motto “Religio depopulata” is not an indication of validity, but rather is an unfulfilled motto. In 1880 Fr. O’Brien (a critic) wrote about Religio depopulata: “Troubled times are foretold by this. The blood of the martyrs will flow.” One wonders that, if Fr. O’Brien had lived to see the carnage of WW I and the rise of communism, he would have taken a different view of the prophecy.
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