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Review of "The Last Pope": A Fear-Mongering Appeal to Christian Viewers

8/13/2018

53 Comments

 
​To recognize that The Last Pope, a two-hour exercise in Christian hysteria, is nothing but fact-free fear-mongering exploitation is easy. To understand what exactly went wrong with the pseudo-documentary about the supposed prophecy of the popes produced by St. Malachy (sometimes spelled Malichy) requires much more effort. To write this review, I read documents in four languages: the original published version of the prophecies in Latin, the nineteenth-century book that created their modern legend in French, modern academic research into their origins in Italian, and various English-language resources. As is evident from the thin veneer of scholarship papering over the slapdash production of The Last Pope, which at times comes across as little more than a narrator reading conspiratorial blog posts at the audience, my research was (a) overkill, (b) more than anyone involved in the show’s production ever did, and (c) both more interesting than and a direct contradiction to the narrative presented on-screen.
But what worries me more is that the amateur internet sleuths who stand in for actual historians in the making of travesties like The Last Pope either really believe that they are doing actual historical research, or they and the History Channel which broadcasted it, don’t care. I’m not sure which is more frightening.
 
The Last Pope is the latest in a long line of History Channel pseudo-documentaries designed to generate fear among Christian viewers that the End Times are upon us. Past specials on Nostradamus, Fatima, nuclear war, disease, and other standard apocalyptic fears come along at regular intervals, and few are interesting enough to warrant much notice. They are repetitive and often quite dull, using the End Times fear-mongering as an emotional substitute for research and analysis, substituting cheap scares for the harder work of intellectual argumentation. This particular special is noteworthy for folding in Nostradamus and Fatima into a documentary that was supposed to focus on a prophecy of the end of the papacy, even though neither of the other supposed prophecies was about the end of the papacy.
 
But the show is more noteworthy for being a product of Minnesota production company Committee Films, the former producers of America Unearthed, the pseudo-historical pseudo-documentary series that spent three seasons spinning anti-Catholic conspiracy theories on History’s now-defunct H2 channel. The current special received more than $700,000 in grant money from Minnesota’s taxpayer-funded Snowbate program, and Committee Films used the show and the money to reintroduce former television personality and “forensic geologist” Scott Wolter to the History audience, rebranded now as a “historian,” a title that the History Channel first bestowed on the professional geologist when he hosted Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar after the cancellation of America Unearthed. That show received condemnation from UNESCO for what it said was a media-led approach that jeopardized archaeological treasures, prompting History to burn off remaining episodes on a Saturday afternoon. After this Wolter’s star went into eclipse for several years. Wolter has no education or training in history, and no relevant research experience in the topic of this particular documentary. By his own admission in his books, he can’t even read the Latin in which the prophecies under discussion were written, and when he first discovered the prophecies in 2013, he asserted, falsely, that they spoke of the resignation of Benedict XVI, which they plainly did not.
 
Another talking head, John-Henry Westen, is also questionable. Presented here as a “Catholic writer,” he is actually a Canadian anti-abortion activist and frequent Fox News guest whose “writing” is his anti-abortion website.
 
Many of the other talking heads in the special are familiar faces to viewers of fringe history programs. Several are regulars on Forbidden History, the British pseudo-history program that airs on AHC in the U.S. Other speakers, mainstream journalists from The Daily Beast and other publications, seem to be in a different show and speak only about Catholic politics, suggesting that they were not told they would be on a show about prophecy rather than just the papacy.
 
No real historians or actual experts in medieval documents appear on the show. But at this point in the life of the History Channel, I simply expect that the talking heads will be a ragtag collection of hucksters, opportunists, lunatics, and self-promoters.
 
The show opens with the resignation of Benedict XVI in 2013 and concern that a lightning strike on St. Peter’s Basilica at the time was some kind of omen of the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church. It then moves into the supposed prophecy of the Irish St. Malachy (1094-1148), who is alleged to have predicted the entire line of popes from 1139 down to the end of their line. For former America Unearthed host Scott Wolter, Malachy is especially interesting because he sees a connection between Malachy and Bernard of Clairvaux, who helped establish the Knights Templar, a particular obsession of Wolter’s. “People ask me: ‘What’s the biggest prophecy of all time?’” Wolter says. “It’s got to be the Malachy prophecy.” In terms of importance and impact, it pales before the prophecies of Revelation, which color all of Western Civilization, or the prophetic writings of the Hebrew prophets, which were used retroactively to justify Christianity. The Malachy prophecy of the popes hasn’t even been as influential as the drug-addled ramblings of the Pythia of Delphi, whose words could sway the course of wars, or the Sibylline Oracles, which were used to guide the fate of Rome.
 
The bigger trouble is that The Last Pope tells a story that isn’t true, presenting a nineteenth century historical fiction about a sixteenth century hoax as fact. Let me explain, using all that historiography that “historian” Scott Wolter and all the other credulous talking heads and poor researchers on the production team chose to avoid.
 
St. Malachy lived in Ireland in the twelfth century, but for more than four hundred years after his death, no one heard tell of any supposed prophecies of the future of the Roman Catholic Church. But in 1595, the Benedictine monk Arnold Wion (or Wyon) published a book called Lignum Vitae in which he included a long list of mottos describing past and future popes which he attributed to the long-dead Malachy. Wyon, however, did not tell his readers where the prophecies came from, where he found the text, or how old the manuscript he used was, nor if he copied it verbatim. (The show gets this wrong because they didn’t read the original.) The story given out for where the text came from was that Malachy had had a prophetic vision while in Rome during a visit in 1139 and that he bequeathed the list to Pope Innocent II, who promptly hid it in the Vatican’s archives until it was rediscovered in 1590 and published five years later.
 
This was the story, anyway, and one that The Last Pope accepts wholesale. As it happens, that story was first told by Abbé Cucherat, a believer in the prophecy, in 1871, with no source. It seems to be his own work of speculative history based on the saint’s actual life and Cucherat’s wishful thinking about what might have happened assuming that Malachy’s vision occurred in Rome—a politically important point given that Cucherat was writing at a time when the papacy was in eclipse, losing its temporal power and territory to the new Kingdom of Italy, which had made the pope a “prisoner of the Vatican.” Cucherat concluded his apparently fictitious account this way:
The document then remained forgotten, completely ignored in the Roman archives until the time marked in the decrees of Divine Providence for its discovery and popularization. Its discovery dates to the year 1590. Its popularization was reserved for our troubled days. By writing this, may I contribute a work of good faith and patience! (my trans.)
​However, Cucherat’s story must be false, as the recent research of Italian historian Lorenzo Comensoli Antonini has demonstrated. Antonini published an article in 2015 reporting on a previously unprinted letter of Maurizio Cattaneo, the secretary to the cardinal Giovanni Girolamo Albani, in 1587 (now held at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy) in which Cattaneo refers at length to what seems to correspond to Malachy’s list of 112 popes. Cattaneo was discussing several prophecies then in circulation about the possibility of his boss soon becoming pope, and here is just part of what he says:
I well say by Our Lady that there are good results for us, but I want secondly to say, that these are not modern but ancient prophecies; the first is that of Malachy which contains more than 200 popes, of which “De rore coeli” (“from the dew of the sky”) admirably applies to us… (my trans.)
​Although the number of listed popes disagree (Cattaneo may have spoken figuratively, or may have had a longer list), the mottos quoted by Cattaneo (three in total) are verbatim identical to Wyon’s list. In short, the prophecies had to have been composed no later than 1587, but probably not before 1585, when Sixtus V was elected, since his coat of arms is described literally in the line before “De rore coeli.” Consequently, the most logical solution is that the prophecies were faked as part of the campaign to elect Sixtus V, or shortly after his election on behalf of a hopeful successor.
 
The final part of the alleged prophecy became the most famous because it predicted the end of the Church and possibly the world with the one hundred and twelfth man to sit on the throne. The exact wording of the end of the prophecy—the last ten popes—is as follows (my correction of a standard translation):
Ardent Fire.
Religion Exterminated.
Intrepid Faith.
The Angelic Pastor.
The Pastor and Sailor.
The Flower of Flowers.
From the midst of the Moon.
From the Eclipse of the Sun.
The Glory of the Olive.
He shall sit (on the throne) during the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church.
Petrus Romanus (i.e., “Peter of Rome”), who will pasture his sheep through many tribulations. When these things are finished, the city of the seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible Judge shall judge his people. The end. 
​Such is the prophecy of Malachy, or rather, the Renaissance hoax that passed under his name. Note that there is a little bit of ambiguity at the end over whether the “he” who shall sit on the throne is the same as the succeeding Petrus Romanus or is intended to be a different character.
 
By complete coincidence, Malachy’s list was remarkably accurate from the time of Malachy down to around 1585, after which critics quickly noted that considerable effort was needed to match the ambiguous and poetic descriptors to the men who actually sat on St. Peter’s throne.
 
As early as 1602, scholars had begun to attack the authenticity of the prophecies, notably French and Dutch writers, who repeatedly debunked the text as an imposture, for the obvious reasons: its accuracy declines markedly after describing the arms of Sixtus V, who was elected in 1585; there was no mention of the prophecies in any medieval document; and the text was just one of several forged prophecies about popes circulating in the 1580s, as Cattaneo and other Catholic observers of the era alluded to and described. Malachy’s list became the most famous because it was the longest, the most mysterious (not naming popes explicitly), and the only one to predict the upcoming end of … something.
 
The Last Pope gives the mythical version instead of the factual one—indeed, it never acknowledges the factual challenges to the list’s authenticity, even to dismiss them—and asserts that the Vatican Archives held Malachy’s prophecy, which would surprise Maurizio Cattaneo, who knew of the prophecies as a popular text circulating among the educated class of the Roman aristocracy. It is true that cardinals from the 1590s onward have believed in the prophecies, as the show asserts (Cattaneo’s letter confirms as much), but that does not mean that the prophecies were written in the 1100s, or that they were divinely inspired.
 
But even a mystery-mongering show can’t manage to spin two sentences into two hours, so the producers were forced to bring in additional prophecies from other sources. Much of the show’s run is dedicated to the prophecies of Fatima, allegedly given from a supernatural figure assumed to be the Virgin Mary to three children in Portugal in the summer and fall of 1917. These prophecies have been debunked many a time, but also, they have nothing really to say about Malachy’s list, despite the show’s efforts to claim that the two prophecies march in lockstep toward proving the reality of the Christian faith. No, wait… toward proving that the world is going to end and Jesus will save us all. No, that’s not it either… Well, it must be something about how God is real and you evil skeptical atheist communist libtards need to just shut up and die already.
 
You laugh, but this is a show that (a) gives a prominent perch to an arch-conservative anti-abortion activist as an “expert” on history, (b) repeatedly quotes people decrying communism and atheism as sinful and something God must punish, and (c) revels in finding examples of where people they label as “skeptics” (i.e. atheists) were converted to Christianity through the power of Marian prophecies. Against this, they have the decidedly liberal Scott Wolter claiming that the Vatican holds a copy of the marriage certificate of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in their archives, dating back to the third century. There is no evidence of this, and the claim is a modern fantasy. The show’s Christianity, like its politics, is not pure, but its arrow points largely in one direction.
 
By the end of the show, the program told its viewers that Muslim terrorists planned to invade Rome and kill the pope, Hell is going to open up beneath our feet, the Third World War will be starting soon, and the pope is too liberal, so God will strike down the Church for insufficient moral purity. In a strange twist that I can’t imagine would have held such weight before 2016, the show devotes a bizarre amount of time to a reference in the Fatima prophecies to a demand that the country of Russia be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Mary. The prophecy, fabricated by the Fatima youths between Russia’s February and October Revolutions—that is, after the overthrow of the Tsarist government but before the Communist takeover—reflected concern at the time over anti-monarchical and anti-Christian revolution, which in the Catholic teaching amounted to the same thing. But the narrator wants none of this and gives it a Trumpian spin. He asks whether the prophecy was not about the coming Soviet Union but rather about how Americans have antagonized Vladimir Putin and Most Christian Russia, risking a world war. The show quotes U.S. officials about Russian interference in America’s internal affairs, including the 2016 election, but the narrator is silent about what the viewer is meant to take from this, though the answer is, by omission, clear: Russia must be welcomed back into both the secular and sacred folds as a full and equal partner to prevent a rift with America that might destroy the world. Only by working together can Christendom be restored to its medieval glory. Of course, that reading would require us to posit that Donald Trump is the Last World Emperor—a frightening failure of prophecy if ever there were one.
 
The show finishes with an allegation that Nostradamus predicted that St. Peter’s tomb would be uncovered when the world was about to end, but this interpretation is a bit of a stretch for a quatrain that actually read:
Au fondement de la nouuelle secte,
Seront les os du grand Romain trouuez,
Sepulchre en marbre apparoistra ouuerte,
Terre trembler en Auril, mal enfoüez.
 
At the foundation of the new sect,
The bones of the great Roman will be found,
A sepulcher covered by marble will appear,
Earth to quake in April poorly buried.
(6.66; standard translation)
​They ask us to believe that this refers to the recent discovery of bone fragments attributed to St. Peter last year in Rome’s Church of Santa Maria in Cappella and that “the world stage seems ripe for devastating conflict.” It’s worth noting that Nostradamus didn’t name Peter, and “the great Roman” could be anyone, like, say, Julius Caesar or Cicero.
 
As the show comes to an end, Wolter opines that the End Times of Revelation are the same as Malachy’s tribulation of the last pope, and the narrator bluntly asks if the End Times are now upon us. Wolter, surprisingly, mitigates the fear-mongering by positing that the End is simply a preparation for rebirth, but then he says that “it’s all going to be over” for us unless we make better choices as a species. The producers cut out what seemed to be leading into references to climate change and the environment, key concerns of Wolter, and instead they sliced and diced the sound bites to make sure to end on a sour note, keeping the audience afraid. Repent! Repent! For you wasted two hours on this propagandistic, fear-mongering trash fire.
53 Comments
vonmazur
8/13/2018 03:08:03 pm

The long covered up last words of the BVM to Lucia were: "Keep up the good work, and NO Irish Popes!" I got this direct from Sr Mary Buffarilla in 5th grade...I wonder if St Malarky ever predicted a Polish Pope...by country of origin ?? The predictions attributed to him are obviously as fake a a Three Dollar Bill with Truman Capote on it..

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Joe Scales
8/13/2018 03:17:01 pm

Jesus Christ... you had to bring Trump into all this? Just when I was looking forward to some unabashed Wolter bashing. I don't know, did the show bring him up? I fell asleep well before the second hour. Prior to that, bursts of laughter when "historian" Wolter was given airtime had kept me awake. But if Trump was brought up, forgive me for taking issue with your interpretations.

Also humorous were the references that would go something like, "skeptics will point out...", and then they'll fill in the blank with some mundane issue that no skeptic would hardly consider relevant; rather than the overwhelming evidence that it's all pure hoax.

Geology has come a long way...

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Americanegro
8/13/2018 03:51:08 pm

First, thanks for alerting us to this Joe. Wolter has an article on his site about this, where he alludes to "something profound" happening in 2012 but doesn't say what it was. Oh, wait, America Unearthed premiered on December 21, 2012.

"No real historians or actual experts in medieval documents were harmed in the making of this show."

I'm convinced that all my old Penthouses found their way to the Vatican Archive.

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Joe Scales
8/13/2018 09:19:24 pm

Yeah, Wolter's latest blog entry in this regard is somewhat incoherent even for him. At first I thought maybe he was trying to put forth all his zany fabrications that didn't make it on air. But then I thought that maybe he's a bit embarrassed in lowering himself to be simply a talking head amongst many on a show that embraced silly religious prophecies full on. So he peppered his corresponding blog topic with granges, Cistercians, eight columned churches and hooked X's to bring his handful of minions back on board.

Americanegro
8/13/2018 09:42:30 pm

Just about all "who embrace the "Hooked X" ideology of Monotheistic Dualism" love to say "grange".

According to the caption that's a lavatorium or washroom rather than a church. But still Templar, yessireee!

Precession, according to our Scott, was the domain of "essentially astronomer priests, [who] received ancient knowledge passed on through initiation and ritual about the 26,000 year long cycle of the twelve primary constellations of the zodiac when viewed from Earth." Nevermind Hipparchus discovering it 2 centuries BC and the Indians (dot not feather) 5 centuries BC.

"Malachy knew something profound was to occur in 2012, the same year cultures like the Mayans, who also understood and venerated astronomical precession, knew the old "Great Year" would end and the new "Great Year" would begin." The same way I know December 31st will be New Year's Eve. That's how calendars work.

Everything is due to Trump, Trump's inaction, Trump's action, and so on. EVERYTHING can be connected to Trump, given sufficient ingenuity on the part of the writer.

Jim
8/13/2018 11:40:24 pm

Freaking Wolter,

"History Channel aired an interesting two-hour documentary tonight that I participated in as a commentator about Saint Malachy O'Morgair (1094-1143)."

The expert historian on Saint Malachy O'Morgair, couldn't even get the date of his death right ! ( 2 November 1148 )

Bob Jase
8/14/2018 09:26:48 am

"According to the caption that's a lavatorium or washroom rather than a church. But still Templar, yessireee!"

They're Templars, not Popes - you can't expect them to shit in the woods.

Americanegro
8/14/2018 02:48:11 pm

It's a washroom not a "bathroom".

Joe Scales
8/14/2018 09:05:04 pm

For "extreme cleanliness".

GodricGlas
8/15/2018 10:22:39 pm

Wait.

Where’s “Trump” in that post?

All I can offer is a special post for anyone that can point it out.

WTF?

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Josh
9/11/2018 07:02:32 am

I think the original reply got hooked on the “trumpian” comment and thought Colavito was attacking Trump. And while one could, successfully, argue that it is an attack on Trump, but “trumpian” has become an adjective that I’m not totally convinced everyone has accepted.

Bob Jase
8/13/2018 03:29:50 pm

If it weren't for fan fiction most religious traditions and dogma wouldn't exist.

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Denise
8/13/2018 03:30:10 pm

Thank you! I actually watched this POS, and kept yelling at the tv. I dabble enough the prophecy and heresy thing yet had never heard of Malaci. I looked him up with the first half hour, to find he had already been debunked. However I knew you read latin and was hoping you give the back story.


That's two hours I'm not getting back.

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Americanegro
8/13/2018 03:54:41 pm

" between Russia’s February and October Revolutions—that is, after the overthrow of the Tsarist government but before the Communist takeover—reflected concern at the time over anti-monarchical and anti-Christian revolution, which in the Catholic teaching amounted to the same thing."

Or looking at the Bolsheviks, perhaps in their eyes a specifically Jewish revolution.

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Bezalel
8/13/2018 03:57:58 pm

Breathtaking "thank you" from Bezalel, who has also spent a few years researching the two grand hoaxes of Fatima and Malachy. After nearly going insane, I nearly came to the conclusion that these hoaxes are closely related and originate from rogue anti-freemasonic elements within the Catholic Church herself (perhaps wishful thinking cardinals).

Apparently, some of them are working to influence the modern church (and related institutions) in such a way as to bring about the supposed "prophetic" results of both hoaxes, much like the crazed lunatics attempting to build the so-called "Third Temple" so as to instigate some sort of armageddon and "2nd coming".

Can't make this stuff up, but I'm certainly eternally grateful the morons at the History Channel have relieved this mantle from me, and equally grateful that you have stayed abreast of this nonsense.

I may be crazy, but I'm not drunk, although i definitely plan to be before the night arrives.

Kudos

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Menken
8/13/2018 04:14:48 pm

Odd that Wolter could get a bachelors degree and never take a class in history.

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KH
8/13/2018 05:23:02 pm

Just because one takes a couple gen-ed survey classes in something, that doesn't make them deserving of a "talking-head"-level expert title.
If that's the standard of proof, than I could go on TV and claim to be not only a historian, but an archaeologist, chemist, mathematician, and linguist.

At least where it comes to history, while there is no official qualifications to call yourself a "historian", I was always under the impression that to honestly claim that title, you had to have made some advancement in the knowledge of a historical subject (a new theory, expanding, proving, or disproving a previous theory, otherwise increasing our knowledge on a subject, etc.) in a peer-reviewed forum, so other experts could critique and debate the new material you brought to the table.

As we know from Mr. Colavito, Mr. Wolter has never done this, and, in fact, gets very testy on the subject of peer review, resorting to argumentum ad populum and claiming that the burden of proof falls on those seeking to disprove his claims, not on him to prove them.

Mr. Colavito is free to correct me if I am wrong, but what I think he was getting at when he said Mr. Wolter "has no education or training in history", was that Mr. Wolter hasn't (to the best of anyone's knowledge) studied historiography or methods of engaging with historical primary sources, and hasn't demonstrated any familiarity with primary sources beyond what he remembers from World History 101 and goofball fringe books.

Tl;dr: Mr. Wolter isn't a historian by the generally accepted definition of that title, and he doesn't have any known formal education in history, besides what every college freshman gets, so 1. Mr. Colavito's statement is an accurate characterization, and 2. It is deceptive of the History Channel to describe him thus.

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Menken
8/13/2018 06:48:25 pm

My comment refers to Jason writing that Wolter has “no education or training in history.”

Joe Scales
8/13/2018 09:04:13 pm

"Mr. Wolter has never done this, and, in fact, gets very testy on the subject of peer review, resorting to argumentum ad populum ..."

No. Mr. Wolter will outright lie and tell you his Kensington Rune Stone "science" was peer reviewed. He tells this lie over and over on his blog and repeats it often when interviewed. He is a liar. He is a fraud. He is an imbecile. In other words, a perfect "historian" for The History Channel.

Doc Rock
8/13/2018 09:50:38 pm

One could probably get by with calling themselves a historian if they have at least a B.A. in history. Or, especially if you have the degree and are getting paid to work in that field. Peer reviewed pubs aren't really a must, but certainly helpful. Wolter calling himself a historian is kind of like some of these old guys down south who used to call themselves colonel or general even though they were never in the military or didn't make it past Lance Corporal.


But when it comes to assigning titles to people who do shitty pseudo-historical research for the sake of an impressive title for a shitty pseudo-history show, there really isn't a governing body to call BS on it.

justanotherskeptic
8/17/2018 01:32:45 pm

Really, this program was a waste of my late night time. I watched it off history.com, commercials and all. I don't know what was worse; the show itself or the endless commercials or both.

The thing that bothered me the most is the fear mongering. I was also offended by the fictional representation of Pope Francis, particularly the R- rated scene of his assassination following his climb up the hill, smoke surrounding him

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Mike link
8/13/2018 04:44:47 pm

But Jason - you forgot to note that Nostradamus' citation was 6.66 -- that seals the deal! He was certainly talking about end times!

But seriously, I'm hoping that, after Francis is gone and the next pope is elected we'll hear no more about this faux prophecy.

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Monsignor McFeely
8/13/2018 05:07:45 pm

So that spalpeen Wolter is at it again. But at least he isn't running his gob about a bloody Scot finding his way to America a thousand years ago. Everybody knows that Saint Brendan got there first.

Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
8/13/2018 06:58:04 pm

As described here, and in the History Channel's own description

https://www.history.com/specials/the-last-pope

it sounds a lot like many, many crazy Youtube videos I've seen -- including but not limited to the semi-overt politics.

I suppose I should not be surprised that Youtube and/or Deep Web videos lead and the History Channel follows. It's not like it's the first time.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Reply
orang
8/13/2018 08:29:05 pm

Saddened to see that Scott Walters has resurfaced like a submerged corpse whose gaseous deterioration has caused sufficient bloat to displace enough disinterest to once again raise him into the attention of the cretins at the History Channel and, unfortunately, our attention . Well, he needed a job so he went out and got one. I fear for his long term sanity as he gets nuttier with each reappearance.our consciousness

Reply
Bill
8/14/2018 10:09:27 am

Lignum Vitae is a curious name for a book. I've always known that specific term to be a type of wood used for bearings, specifically, shaft seal bearings on ships. Hasn't been used for bearings on modern constructions, but, was very common not too long ago (about 50 years and back). Of course you know the literal translation as "Wood of Life." But, what does that have to do with the book's subject? It's not even very poetic sounding (at least in English - a bit more so in Latin, maybe). Was this a common metaphor at the time? Or in reference to something specific? Or was the author just an idiot and attempting to say Tree of Life; although, I don't know how you mix Arbor and Lignum up other than they are synonyms. Llignum est arbor, sicut aqua est ad flumen? Doesn't make sense. (Sorry for the bad translation but I am having too much fun). So, it must be in reference to something or a commonly used term back then. Anyways,the show sounds like a good time. I am not going to waste mine by watching it, but, did the talking heads at least get to run around Italy or was there no budget for that kind of nonsense?

I've heard of this prophesy before and isn't the Pope Emeritus supposed to be the olive or something and thus making the current Pope, Peter. Or is Francis supposed to be the olive and the next one Peter. Either way, it would have been more convincing if the author had referenced something about Argentina (much more noteworthy for Francis). Something about the New World, or Silver, or even beef or something about soybeans. At any rate, thanks for watching and sharing. And good luck.

Reply
Machala
8/14/2018 12:15:03 pm

Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur.

Glad to see the Histo-rectal-me Channel is taking an interest in Maelmhaedhoc O'Morgair ( or Mael Maedoc ua Morgair if you prefer ) from my mother's County Armagh.
Malachy O'More as the English call him, was an ecclesiastical reformer who favored the Roman liturgy over the Celtic one and was something of an Irish gadabout, traveling even to Rome and Clairvaux ,France a couple of time, as well as gallivanting about Ireland. He was a regular Johnny Appleseed, who according to legend planted apple trees throughout Ireland during on of its many famines.
And then there was that little deal about his prophecies that nobody knew about until Arnold de Wyon made them up...er..discovered them buried in an old pope's underwear drawer, in the papal palace.

Anyway I'm glad that the great scholar and expert on all things Catholic, Scot Wolter got a chance to enlighten us on these mysterious predictions that end with Pope Francis getting kicked out of the Vatican for rooting for Argentina over Italy in the next World Cup, thereby signaling the End of Daze.

BTW St. Malachy's feast day falls on Sat. Nov. 3rd , just three short days before the Mid-term Elections in the U.S. You all may want to do some heavy praying to him on that day for the political miracle of your choice.

Remember: " vir prudens non contra ventum mingit " !

Reply
Joe Scales
8/14/2018 01:19:42 pm

Hey Machala, keep the Catholicism on the down low. Let's just say "Christian" fear-mongering so we can stretch it out to smear Trump somehow. Catholics and alt-right doesn't connect as well.

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Machala
8/14/2018 03:50:48 pm

Joe,
You'll notice I was quite catholic ( small c ) about praying before your elections. It was applicable to folks on either side of the cauldron I don't think Trump ( even in the guise of the Great Satan ) was mentioned in the prophecies of the Irish abbot.Old Nicotinos might have had some smokey vision in a quatrain, but not good St. Malarky..eh...Malachy.

Catholics and the alt-right ? "NO-body expects the Spanish Inquisition !"

Joe Scales
8/14/2018 09:27:23 pm

Never fear Machala. I'm sure some pretentious bore... well, actually one pretentious bore... is spending the night googling alt-right Catholics, willfully misinterpreting me in believing I meant they didn't exist, rather than what I attempted to portray in a more artful manner.

V
8/15/2018 11:46:29 am

The thing is, Joe, that the overall thrust of the show ISN'T particularly Catholic. It's quite a bit more Evangelical in tone, in fact, even though it's using Catholic purported "prophecies." And if "the audience who falls for this show is the audience Trump pandered to in order to get elected" is a smear on Trump, then perhaps it's time to stop and take a really good look at your orange "hero."

Joe Scales
8/15/2018 01:04:34 pm

That's a real stretch V, ignoring the whole Catholic thing. And yeah, it's a twist made as a political smear. Not wanting to read that all roads lead to Trump doesn't make him my hero. He's just another politician. One day maybe you'll see that, rather than let agitators lead you down their path to power, not yours.

orang
8/14/2018 12:33:40 pm

I wondered to myself is the word "malarkey" is based on the name "Malachy". It isn't but it should be.

Reply
Jim
8/14/2018 04:31:34 pm

Let's not throw too much shade on Malachy for crap that con artists made up centuries after his death.

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Kal
8/14/2018 02:15:29 pm

So Scott W's big reveal was little more than mideaval papal holy relic hunting the guise of a Dan Brown type mystery. Well that clinches it, he isn't close to being Dan Brown, and that is amusing.

Yeah, and where are all those 2012 is the end goof offs now? It would be interesting to do a reunion show interviewing the ones that were prepared to run off to some island looking to be like doomsday preppers. Ask them where they went wrong.

Scott is about as much a 'historian' as Nostrademus was a prophet. (Not even close).

This was his big reveal? Really? King of expected something more creative than some old 16th century forgery. But hey, the KRS is forgery.

Reply
A Buddhist
8/15/2018 08:23:52 am

Jason Colavito: I am sorry to see how many insult are within these comments now. But this is no insult, but a correction.

it accuracy declines markedly after describing the arms of Sixtus V, who was elected in 1585
should be
its accuracy declines markedly after describing the arms of Sixtus V, who was elected in 1585

Reply
Americanegro
8/15/2018 01:48:36 pm

No one expected the Spanish Inquisition! Excessive running -and-complaining is itself a species of cyber-bullying, especially in this Age of Trump. I turn my gaze northward.

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Joe Scales
8/15/2018 10:09:53 pm

Still no comments on Wolter's blog, Not even from you guys. Can't wait for Patrick to weigh in on this one. Believe it or not, I'm gonna predict he was let down. That's just my faith in humanity though, coming through...

Reply
Americanegro
8/15/2018 10:49:05 pm

I thought about it but didn't want to be the first; I've posted there and been approved many times. It occurs to me that maybe he just hasn't gotten any comments he felt like approving. If you see one about how he remains so slender that's from me. I wonder what pop star names he allows? Turns out that's a fuckin' minefield. Who knew?

Reply
Joe Scales
8/16/2018 01:45:17 pm

He's probably just on Summer vacation. Though it would give me some solace to think that his dwindling fandom might find his dabbling into Catholic prophecies rather unnerving, they're also the same sort of folks who thought it would be perfectly rational for Ponce De Leon to make a secret voyage to Nova Scotia to carve "de" on a rock.

Jim
8/15/2018 11:11:38 pm

I'm waiting for Anthony Warren to start the ball rolling.
Although, I may ask him whose pants he is wearing ?

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4AFZm6VDvbk/W23NycPM0zI/AAAAAAAABVw/f_Q3P3-53Cwze5Gi_xW4D2f8Jnv415DzgCLcBGAs/s640/2012-11-11%2B06.36.05.jpg

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Bezalel
8/17/2018 05:41:17 pm

I commented first day, he refused to post it

Reply
T. Franke link
8/16/2018 11:10:47 am

Although living in the 21st century, prophecies about Christianity etc. still can excite many people. But if needed, I suggest to go for quality: Look up Solovyov's Tale of the Anti-Christ and the last days of the church.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Solovyov_(philosopher)
https://archive.org/stream/warprogressendof00solouoft#page/180

This is influential thought, though rather literature than philosophy.

Reply
Patrick Shekleton
8/16/2018 04:25:44 pm

Not on vacation. Didn't watch the show. I don't do prophecy stuff.

Reply
Joe Scales
8/16/2018 04:58:10 pm

Oh, I meant Wolter might be on vacation; hence the lack of blog comments which he must approve prior to publication. But good on you Patrick, for not getting on board with this one.

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justanotherskeptic
8/17/2018 01:36:28 pm

Couldn't Wolter just call himself a self-taught historian?

Reply
Americanegro
8/17/2018 02:42:41 pm

Or perhaps "amateur historian"? People are like dogs with bones with this "historian" business. Anyway I don't think Wolter called _himself_ a historian, the narrator did. I don't see the problem; they didn't call him a _good_ historian. Herodotus and Josephus had no degrees. People can work or in Wolter's case spew non-sense in multiple fields for which they have no training on paper. Keep your eye on the sparrow.

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Jim
8/17/2018 05:11:33 pm

If Wolter is a self taught historian, his history teacher should be fired.

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Joe Scales
8/20/2018 12:55:36 pm

For those keeping score, it would seem Wolter admitted the whole pope thing was a hoax now that he's back on his blog.

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Americanegro
8/20/2018 01:31:59 pm

Twenty-three comments today in Wolter's blog.

Reply
Joe Scales
8/20/2018 01:43:29 pm

Well, I suppose my first impression wasn't too far off. His blog entry was indeed loaded with the zany fabrications they cut from his interview.

"I was interviewed for two hours and talked about how St. Malachy could have known about anything significant happening around 2012 which, of course, had everything to do with Precession of the Equinoxes. Apparently, a late edit by the network took that out and inserted the "End Times" angle. I suspect they thought explaining precession was too much for their audience to take in and went with the 'death and destruction' angle instead. I can appreciate that from a business perspective, but was still disappointed."

History as business.

Reply
Jim
8/20/2018 05:33:24 pm

History as business.

Wolter: " To be frank, I thought the story told in the special was lame."

Nice of Omascotta to take the History Channels money for being a talking head and then disparage the show publicly.

Wolter: "I am confident you'll see me on TV again soon."

Maybe not !

Joe Scales
8/21/2018 10:10:59 am

Reminds me of an endorsement once given to a politician. He has the integrity not to remain bought...


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          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
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        • Phoenicians in America
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        • Prince Henry Sinclair
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        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
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      • A Message from Mars
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    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
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      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
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      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
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      • H. P. Lovecraft >
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        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
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      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
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      • The Migration of Symbols
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      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
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      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
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