So it may be logical to conclude that Malachy was wrong, since we have a new pope, his name isn't "Peter" and he is not connected to Rome (any more than any other pope). [As a side note, his name does not add up to 666 or anything else evil.] But sometimes a legend that feeds our fleshly cravings lives longer than logic that doesn't, and a mere thing like facts may not stop some people from trying to make him out to be "Peter of Rome" and try to get his name to add up to 666. So let me innoculate everyone against that misinformation as best I can before it gets too popular.
He's not a "Peter": None of his names are "Peter" or any variant thereof. Just can't make it out to be that at all. There's no "P" or "T" in any of his names. His birthname Jorge (Greek for "Farmer") Mario (Aramaic for bitterness or lord) Bergoglio (Hill of Oglio) has no connection to the "rock" meaning of "Peter".
He's Not Roman: He was born and raised in Argentina, not Rome. Some have alleged that because his father was Italian, that makes Pope Francis "Roman", but this is very wrong. His family was has at least some German roots, turned Northern Italy/France, then migrated to Argentina. If they were German before they were Italian, and they were not in Italy when he was born, would that make him moore German than Italian?
The pope's father grew up in the Piedmont area of what is now Italy, in the Northwest corner. But the Piedmont area was controlled by the Gothics (Germans) from the 5th to 8th century AD. The Piedmont territory was part of France from 773 AD to 1819 AD - or 1,046 years. After Napolean's defeat, he gave up the area to Genoa for a while, and it became part of Italy in 1859. So the area his father grew up in has a 154 year history in Italy and a 1,046 year history in France. That might make his dad more French than Italian.
The Piedmont area of what is now Italy hates Rome. They don't speak Italian, but a provincial language of their own, and some French. They are culturally disconnected from Rome and most of Italy in almost every way. Most people in the Piedmont Province hate Rome and they have popularized the saying, "Roma Ladrona", which means "Rome is a Thief!" They feel oppressed by Rome, and consider Rome to have stolen their wealth and redistributed it to other parts of Italy. This sentiment is popular not only in the Piedmont area, but other parts of Northern Italy near the borders of France, Switzerland and Austria.
Back in the 1990s, this hatred of Rome was so bad that the "Northern League" political party was formed and advocated succession from Italy and declarnig the Northern region of Italy an independent country, much like those in Quebec have discussed independence, or those in the Souther region of the United States known as "Dixie". But because some of their views conflicted with the concept of pushing power to local government, the Northern League sold out that goal and became a marginally small party that was mostly swallowed up by Forza Italia in later years.
The False Messiah will be someone who will oppress the world FROM Rome. The new Pope is someone whose father was oppressed by Rome and forced to be part of their political countryside against their will. That means his family ties to the Piedmont do, if anything, provide a sign he is NOT the "Petrus Romanus" Malachy foretold. The Piedmont was part of France for 1,046 years and part of Italy for 154. What name did the Pope take? "Francis", which means "from France", as if to say through his name that he identifies with the French heritage his family's area was part of for 1,046 years, but not Italian. He's George of Argentina, and possibly a frenchman at heart.
It's as if the Church chose someone who's background, name, etc gave one sign after another....after another....after another....that this is not a "Peter" and the reverse of a Roman - someone who's only connection to Rome outside the Church is a family history of being oppressed by Rome. It's exactly the opposite of what one would expect if you were expecting "Peter of Rome".
But because a lot of American suffer from Americitus, and pay no attention to world events or other cultures, most will miss these facts and declare him to be "Italian" because they pay no attention to non-American issues. And when you don't read foreign news or keep up with what happens OUTSIDE the bubble of the USA, you miss out on learning this kind of stuff and learning why he is about as far away from being "Roman" as someone could get. But his Dad's background is more of an anti-Roman than Roman.
Sylvester Stallone has closer ties to the name "Peter of Rome" that pope Francis, since He's Italian and once played a film character named "Rocky", which is what Peter translates to in English. But all kidding aside, It seems the Catholic Church wanted to send a signal that said, "This is not Peter of Rome."
Pope Francis is not thirsty for power, and is said to have endorsed Ratzinger in the last papal election on the later rounds.
His Name
I am sure someone out there will be posting how his name adds up to 666 either in English, Latin, Greek or Hebrew, ASCII code, or maybe they will see how many tea leaves it takes to spell out his name and count them up, since that type of thing seems to christen almost every new pope. So let me set that one straight before it goes any further.
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has a name that is multicultural. Jorge is of Greek origin (Greek for "farmer"), Mario is Aramaic , and Bergoglio is German . Berg means "hill", and Oglio is a river in northeastern Italy and southern Austria, which is no where near Rome.
His name could be spelled "ג'ורג' מריו ברגאגליו" in Hebrew and "Γεώργιος Μαρίο βεργογλιο" in Greek, although Greek case endings would vary this some. Since some of these are foreign, let me drop the case endings since any inclusion thereof would only add to the sum. The gematria is;
English Greek
(ignoring case)Greek Count Hebrew Hebrew Count Jorge = George Γεώργιο 991
ג'ורג
110
Mario Μαρίο 221
מריו
156
Bergoglio βεργογλιο 294
ברגאגליו
255
Francis φράνσίς 1061
פרנסיס
460
No combination of this will add up to 666 in either language. All 4 of the above names have a standard spelling already in Hebrew, and the above is it. However, I'm nearly certain that someone will mess with this and spell his name in some unconventional and wrong way in order to get it to add up to 666. For example, ג'ורג plus פרנסיס equals 670, which is so close to 666 someone will likely modify the spelling to something inaccurate just to force it to 666 and run around claiming the guy is the false messiah. They will likely drop the yud in Francis and add alefs where they don't belong just to get it to 666, but it is invalid to place an ALEF or AYIN someplace unless a syllable STARTS WITH a vowel. Using VALID applications of Hebrew letters, there is no way to get this to add up to 666. We won't have to worry about that with the Greek spelling since the two most characteristic names of his are already over 666 even before we add the case endings to his name.
And of course keep in mind Malachy never said Petrus Romanus was an evil guy. He described him as a good guy, not the False Prophet as some have claimed Malachy said. But it seems Malachy did not see this pope in the Church's future, and most of his prophecies were vague anyway.
So perhaps now that it is over, we can put Malachy aside, and put the PETRUS ROMANUS thing aside, and just watch and see how well events unfold when measured against what the prophecies of the Bible foretell, instead of a 13th century priest who did not see this week coming.
Shalom,
Joe