Prophecy of The Popes - Popes and Corresponding Mottos

Popes and Corresponding Mottos

This list, adapted from The Prophecies of St. Malachy by Peter Bander, begins its numbering two numbers ahead of the Vatican's numbering of popes (Benedict XVI is the 265th, not the 267th). The reason for this is unclear (perhaps because of the two purported "anti-popes").

The list can be divided into two groups; one of the 74 Popes and Antipopes who reigned prior to the appearance of the Prophecy in 1590, for whom the connection between the motto and the Pope is usually clear but can be seen as postdiction. The other is of the 38 Popes who have reigned since 1590, for whom the connection between the motto and the Pope is often strained or totally opaque and could be viewed as shoehorning.