Whatever became of all the predictions for this pope?

[TankLV]

That he would have something to do with "the olive" or "peace", and that he would bring about the conversion of the Jews, and that he would be the second to last pope?

Something about the author of the predictions having never been wrong before.

Are there any Ukrainian Catholics out there or other eastern rite catholics?

[DemBones DemBones]

1. You're talking about the "prophecies" attributed to St. Malachy,

which are pretty much on a par with those of Nostradamus; they're all "true" if you stretch and twist the predictions enough to fit what actually happens.

Here's an example of how the prophecies are stretched:

"For example, the prophecy concerning Urban VIII is Lilium et Rosa (the lily and the rose); he was a native of Florence and on the arms of Florence figured a fleur-de-lis; he had three bees emblazoned on his escutcheon, and the bees gather honey from the lilies and roses."

That's from the Catholic Encyclopedia's discussion of the prophecies attributed to St. Malachy, part of a longer article on prophecies:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12473a.htm#malachy


"The most famous and best known prophecies about the popes are those attributed to St. Malachy. In 1139 he went to Rome to give an account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope, Innocent II, who promised him two palliums for the metropolitan Sees of Armagh and Cashel. While at Rome, he received (according to the Abbé Cucherat) the strange vision of the future wherein was unfolded before his mind the long list of illustrious pontiffs who were to rule the Church until the end of time. The same author tells us that St. Malachy gave his manuscript to Innocent II to console him in the midst of his tribulations, and that the document remained unknown in the Roman Archives until its discovery in 1590 (Cucherat, "Proph. de la succession des papes", ch. xv). They were first published by Arnold de Wyon, and ever since there has been much discussion as to whether they are genuine predictions of St. Malachy or forgeries. The silence of 400 years on the part of so many learned authors who had written about the popes, and the silence of St. Bernard especially, who wrote the "Life of St. Malachy", is a strong argument against their authenticity, but it is not conclusive if we adopt Cucherat's theory that they were hidden in the Archives during those 400 years."

Here's an interesting note from later in the article:

"It has been noticed concerning Petrus Romanus, who according to St. Malachy's list is to be the last pope, that the prophecy does not say that no popes will intervene between him and his predecessor designated Gloria olivæ. It merely says that he is to be the last, so that we may suppose as many popes as we please before 'Peter the Roman'."

Kind of shoots down the idea that this pope will be next to last before the end of the world.

St. Malachy, by the way, is an actual saint; he was an Irish cleric in the 11th century.