A Prophecy That May Be About Pope Francis Warns of End Times Following the "Last Pope"

When Pope Francis died in April 2025 on Easter Monday, he was mourned by millions. The peace-loving Pope preached about caring for one another and put an emphasis on empathy and inclusion.

His death sent a ripple of grief through the Catholic world and a ripple of worry through the world at large, as people wondered about what kind of leadership one of the most powerful religious institutions in the world would choose next.

Yet for some believers, there's an even more ominous reason to worry. A centuries-old prophecy that talks about the End Times is being interpreted by some to be related to Pope Francis. It warns of the "last pope" and Judgment Day.

Here's what we know about that prophecy.

The loss of Pope Francis is felt keenly in the Catholic Church, especially among more progressive believers who felt that his teachings on inclusion, empathy, and caring for fellow humans were a necessary voice in today's troubled world.

But according to some believers, his death spells a far more ominous change to come that may mean the end of the world itself, as it's written about in the Bible.

The prophecy in question was supposedly made by St. Malachy, a real saint who lived from 1094 to 1148.

According to Catholic.com, which looked into the varying inconsistencies surrounding the prophecy, he was a real saint credited with predicting all of the popes who would be named in "Prophecy of the Popes", with a total number given as 112. However, the number itself appears to be related to a work by Italian historian Onofrio Panvinio, as noted in the book "An Historical and Critical Account of the So-called Prophecy of St. Malachy Regarding the Succession of Popes" by M.J. O'Brien in 1880.

Onofrio, who died in 1568, tied St. Malachy's predictions clearly to popes who led the church from Urban VI in 1378 up to Gregory XIII in 1572. Notably, his list of "accurate predictions" ended four years after his death, as noted by Wichita State University. After which point St. Malachy's predictions are far less accurate when compared to the actual popes who followed Gregory XIII.

The supposed prediction by St. Malachy stated that after the 112th pope, Judgment Day would arrive.

St. Malachy's supposed list dubbed the "Prophecy of the Popes" was historically catalogued, gathered and possibly written by monk Arnold Wion.

Britannica notes that the prophecy is falsely accredited to St. Malachy and is often used by those in the church to further their own agendas.

So why are people convinced that the so-called prophecy is about Pope Francis?

The New York Post reports that the list supposedly falsely credited to St. Malachy describes the last pope as "Peter the Roman," reading, "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End" (excerpt via New York Post).

Those who believe in the prophecy have determined that Pope Francis is the named "Peter the Roman" and that the end of his reign, predicted for 2027, marks the advent of the End Times.

Yet there are enough inconsistencies that it should bring comfort to even the staunchest of believers.

For one, many Catholic scholars, such as Jimmy Akin of National Catholic Register, believe that the prophecy is a forgery that was pigeonholed into religious texts.

And while several of the descriptions of the popes on the list are easily attributable to popes that did exist, many are vague and impossible to pinpoint.

Including "Peter the Roman."

So even if St. Malachy wrote the prophecy and it correlates to actual popes who lived, it's unclear if Pope Francis is even the pope named in the prophecy.

So we wouldn't make a run on your End Times plans just yet.