I think we need a slightly more detailed explanation here.
Up until about 1590, the first 230 “prophecies” are fairly specific…for example “from a Castle on the Tiber”. After that point, however, when the prophecies became forward-looking, they also became considerably more vague (“wavy man” / “Lily and Rose”). Many of the post-1590 claims have been severely contorted in order to make them fit the appropriate Pope, referencing nothing more than a Papal coat of arms, or the coat of arms of a city the Pope once lived in, or…something.
Pope Benedict’s title was, according to the list, “De Gloria Olivine” (Of the Glory of the Olives). Consider, for a moment, all the potential “solutions” to such a label:
- Anyone with Olive-colored skin
- Anyone from a country particularly associated with a acculturation of olives
- Anyone from Greece
- Anyone particularly associated with Diplomacy
- Anyone particularly associated with ecumenicism
A very broad-ranging selection, no? And yet, Benedict fits into none of these categories. So, what did we end up with as the final explanation? Benedict —> St. Benedict ----> Benedictine Order ----> An olive branch in the coat of arms.
It was as if someone desiring to support Barack Obama for President in 2008 had composed brief sayings on his 43 predecessors (“Man of great war” / “Son of the Past”), entered a particularly fitting description for Obama, then, for good measure, added a few dozen more.
Is it really so likely that a Bishop would be called to Rome, experience miraculous visions listing all the Popes to come, then deposit the list on a shelf inside the Vatican archives, which would only be re-discovered 400 years later?
