Supernatural Philippines: On Petrus Romanus and The Prophecy of the Popes

The Prophecy of the Popes by Arnoldo Wion. 16th Century. Wikipedia

St. Malachy of Ireland. Wikipedia

I'd read about the Prophecy of the Popes a long time ago in an old book published by Reader's Digest. Purportedly from Saint Malachy (1094-1148), it predicted some of the Catholic Church's Popes up to the last one identified as Petrus Romanus, who, supposedly, will lead the Church's flock in a time of tribulation and destruction in Rome, when the "dreadful judge will judge his people." Intriguing, but is it true?

Pope Benedict XVI, who preceded Pope Francis, had been linked to the Malachy prophecy. He's supposedly the second-to-the-last-Pope with the title, The Glory of the Olive. Benedict's choice of name as Pope was inspired by St. Benedict of Nursia, who founded the Benedictine Order which has a branch called Olivetans. It's a stretch, but the connection is there.

Now with the new Pope, some people were challenged to connect him with Petrus Romanus (though it's also a stretch). Well, whether you believe in St. Malachy's Prophecy of the Popes or not, here's the imaginary connection I came up with, which is intriguing, nonetheless.

Here it goes. If you've followed the election process for the new Pope, a sea bird, which is common in Italy, came to rest on the Sistine Chapel chimney just before white smoke came out of it (black smoke meant "no Pope yet" and white smoke meant "yes, we've a new Pope").

Sea bird. Wikipedia.

In sailors' lore, sea birds warned of coming storms. One of these sea birds is the stormy petrel, which were omens to ancient sailors of bad weather ahead. The sea bird which alighted on the Sistine Chapel Chimney was identified as a Yellow-legged Gull, not a petrel, as petrels aren't found in the Vatican. But this gull may be seen as the petrel of Rome. Like the petrel, seagulls were also thought to cry out before a disaster and also warned of impending storms. It's believed these birds carried the souls of dead fishermen and sailors. The etymology of the word Petrel, according to Wiktionary, is, "Perhaps a diminutive of Peter, with reference to St. Peter's walking on water (Matthew 14:29). St. Peter, the first Pope, was once a fisherman who got off his boat and walked briefly on water to go to Jesus before he began to sink, supposedly, due of fear... From here on, you can follow though with your own thoughts, but you really shouldn't take it seriously.

TRIVIA: Pope Francis is the first pope to have visited the grave of St. Peter, the first pope, in the underground necropolis beneath the Vatican, after archaeologists found the site with an inscription that reads, "Peter is here" in 1965.