The Shroud Codex - Jerome R. Corsi [36]
“Why would you want to prove Father Bartholomew is a hoax?” Castle asked the pope. “It has to be obvious to you that I am setting out to do just that.”
“Yes, it is obvious to me what you are doing,” the pope admitted. “But there is also something I want to try to explain to you.”
“What’s that?”
“Have you ever heard of Bishop Malachy?”
“Yes, vaguely,” Castle responded. “Wasn’t he the first Irish saint?”
“Yes, and he is associated with a prophecy that I am going to be the last pope. A Benedictine historian named Arnold Wion published a book in 1559 titled Lignum Vitae, in which a list attributed to the Irish Malachy listed one hundred and twelve popes yet to come, each designated by a Latin phrase that identified the pope. Pope Benedict XVI, my predecessor, was next to last. Malachy designated him as ‘Gloria Olivae,’ or ‘Glory of the Olive.’ Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, was not a Benedictine priest, yet he chose the name of St. Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine order. The symbol of the Benedictine order includes an olive branch. Each of the one hundred and ten before Benedict XVI were identified equally as well by Malachy.”
Castle listened, wondering where the pope was headed with this.
“The designation for the last pope was ‘Petrus Romanus,’ or ‘Peter the Roman.’ I did not want to take Peter II as my name for several reasons. I thought it presumptuous to name myself second to the disciple of Jesus who founded the Catholic Church. Jesus designated St. Peter to lead his church with the famous blessing, ‘Upon this rock I found my church.’ I’m sure you know that ‘Peter’ is the English translation of the Latin and Greek word for ‘rock.’ I greatly admire Pope John Paul II and taking the name Pope John-Paul Peter I permitted me to put Peter in my name without having to be Peter II. Maybe it was just superstitious, but I was born in Rome, so I fit the ‘Petrus Romanus’ description Malachy gave to the last pope.”
“So you believe in these predictions then?” Castle asked.
“I’m not entirely sure. It’s altogether possible the predictions were just attributed to Bishop Malachy, or maybe the believers in the predictions have just interpreted Malachy’s descriptors so that they match after the fact, regardless of who was chosen pope in Malachy’s number sequence. The descriptors are vague. Malachy’s descriptor for Pope John Paul II was ‘From a solar eclipse.’ The believers have gone pretty far afield to identify Karol Wojtyla with that phrase, even arguing that it was fulfilled because Wojtyla was born on May 18, 1920, a day when there was a solar eclipse over the Indian Ocean. I don’t know. But still, I have had a feeling since the College of Cardinals moved to elect me pope that my papacy would have momentous consequences for the Catholic Church. I don’t need to list our problems for you. The Catholic faithful in the United States have dropped church attendance dramatically since the priest scandal. I worry for the future of the Church’s finances.”
“How does this tie into Father Bartholomew?”
“The Shroud of Turin has fascinated me since I first heard about it as a child.”
“You believe it is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ?”
“Yes, I do,” the pope answered directly. “But that is not the official position of the Vatican, now or ever before. Officially, the Catholic Church considers the Shroud of Turin to be an important relic worthy of veneration. The Church maintains that belief in the authenticity of the Shroud as the actual burial cloth of Jesus is not important for the faithful to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. This is important because the resurrection of Jesus is the key article of faith the Church considers dogma concerning Christ’s passion and death. That Christ rose from the dead is the proof he was the Son of God. The Church does not