Catholicism is experiencing a decisive period in its history, considers Giovanni Maria Vian, since the second plenary assembly of the Synod on the future of the Church has just begun (from October 2 to 27). Historian and director of The Roman Observatory, Vatican newspaper, from 2007 to 2018, since then he has been an independent journalist and casts an erudite and critical look at the Holy See and the papacy, as demonstrated by his latest work, The last Pope (Editions du Cerf, 320 pages, 20 euros).
Will Francis be “the last Pope,” as the title of his book suggests?
Juan María Vian: This title refers to the prophecy of Malachi, attributed to a medieval Irish monk. This text lists a hundred popes and dates back to the 12th century.my century and projecting itself to a sovereign pontiff nicknamed the “Glory of the Olive Tree.”
The list then continues with a description of the end of the world: “During the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, a “Roman Peter” will sit and shepherd the sheep through multiple tribulations. The city of seven hills will then be ruined and the terrible judge will judge its people. » If we study the list in order, Benedict XVI (1927-2022) would be the “Glory of the Olive Tree” and Francis, therefore, the “Roman Peter” of the end of the world.
This document is certainly a forgery, actually written in 1590 (we find no mention of it before) with the aim of favoring a cardinal during a conclave of the time, and undoubtedly also to affirm, against the Protestants of the Reformation , that the list of potatoes would still be long.
Asked about this by a German journalist in 2016, three years after his resignation, Benedict XVI, who did not believe in this prophecy, had an answer that I found interesting. First of all, he recalled the extent of the secularization of Europe and the profound change in Catholicism that this implied. Then he added: “I no longer belong to the old world, but in reality the new world has not yet begun. »
Benedict XVI thus affirmed that he and his successor belonged to a generation formed in an “old” Catholic world, which will soon cease to exist. The main idea, which is also the key to reading my book, is that we are at a turning point in the life of the Catholic Church, and that the power of the papacy can no longer be exercised in the same way after Francis.
Does that mean? What changes are expected?
The Catholic world is structured around the “primacy” of the papacy: the Pope is said to be “infallible” and officially holds all power over the Church. This idea arose in the Latin world from the first centuries of Christianity, but the dogma of pontifical infallibility was proclaimed in 1870, by the First Vatican Council. Some saw in it a possibility of universal, moral and spiritual influence, almost a form of rebalance. for the Holy See after the loss of the Papal States and temporal power.
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