Prophecy of The Popes - Authenticity and Skepticism

Authenticity and Skepticism

Spanish writer father Benito Jerónimo Feijóo wrote in his Teatro Crítico Universal (1724–1739), in an entry called Purported prophecies, that the ones by Saint Malachy's were a shameful forgery, claiming that they were created ad hoc during the 16th century. As a proof, he offers an accurate fact: that the first time the prophecy is mentioned is on a handwritten account by patriarch Alfonso Chacón (a.k.a. Alphonsus Ciacconus, 1540–1599) in 1590 (this account would be later published, in 1595, by the abovementioned historian Arnold de Wyon). In this account, Chacón only comments about the prophecies until the papacy of Urban VII (whose papacy only lasted September 1590, and was the sitting pope at the time Chacón wrote the comment).

According to Feijóo, Chacón, who held a great intellectual prestige at the time, was lured into commenting the prophecies by someone who wanted to help cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli (1522–1605) reach the papacy. By showing them to be accurate till Urban VII, it was expected people would believe the following ones. That way, Girolamo Simoncelli's election as pope would be easier, since the prophecy after Urban VII's one tells about a pope Ex antiquitate urbis (from the antiquity of the city), a fact that seems to fit him, who was cardinal of Orvieto (literally "old city", urbs vetus), or at least better than Gregory XIV, who was elected pope after Urban VII.

Thus, the forgery would have been unsuccessful, since Simoncelli was not elected pope. Jesuit father Claude-François Menestrier also claimed that the prophecies were forged in order to help the papal candidacy of Girolamo Simoncelli, offering similar reasons to those of Feijóo. Spanish historian José Luis Calvo points out that the prophecies seem to be very accurate till Urban VII, fitting perfectly even the antipopes, but that afterwards great efforts have to be made in order to make the prophecies fit their pope. Feijóo's explanation is usually regarded as being the strongest evidence of the forgery.