Pope Leo XIV and St. Malachy's Prophecy: The 112th and 113th

Leo XIV would be the 112th pope of St. Malachy, with the 113th still missing

How many popes remain according to St. Malachy? The answer depends on whether the prophecy's final motto, regarding Peter the Roman, refers to a distinct pope or the second half of the previous one. Debate over the list attributed to the 12th-century Irish archbishop resurfaces with the election of Leo XIV, who corresponds to motto 112: «In persecutione extrema S. R. E. sedebit». The discussion centers on whether this phrase announces a pontificate under persecution and if the 113th, «Petrus Romanus», is yet to come.

The starting point is the translation from Latin. «S.R.E.» is read as Sancta Romana Ecclesia, the Holy Roman Church, and the verb admits two readings: sedebit, he will sit, or fedebit, he will stink. Hence, the most widespread interpretation speaks of a pope who will govern amidst extreme persecution. Accusations circulate that Leo XIV covered up abuses, a claim that fits the narrative of harassment against the Church.

The problem of the 112th and 113th

The doubt is structural. In the original document, the second paragraph for each pope appears within the same line, allowing the argument that they are two distinct mottos. The contrary reading joins both parts into a single sentence: «In extreme persecution will sit Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep amid many tribulations, after which the city of seven hills will be destroyed». If this union is accepted, Leo XIV would be the last, and there would be no separate 113th.

The full text of the 113th adds that, after the tribulations, «ciuitas septicollis diruetur» —the city of seven hills will be destroyed— and the terrible Judge will judge his people. The closing word is «Finis». The list has traditionally been read as a sequence of pontiffs ending with a shepherd named Peter, fueling all kinds of speculations about the end times.

The precedent of Francis and the count of pontificates

There is a current that discounts Francis from the list, arguing he was never an elected pope, which would shift the numbering. With this adjustment, Leo XIV would occupy the place of the 112th, leaving the 113th pending. This same current relies on a prophecy attributed to St. Francis of Assisi about a man «canonically not elected» who would lead many astray.

The rest of the material is a catalog of predictions regarding persecution of the Church: St. Pius X's vision of a pope fleeing Rome among corpses, the third part of the Fatima secret antiestéticaturing a bishop dressed in white fleeing a ruined city, and warnings from Nicholas of Flüe, Bartholomew Holzhauser, or Anne Maria Taigi about the pontiff's flight and a Rome without a shepherd. None of this has verifiable documentary support.

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Ultimately, the prophecy functions like a Rorschach test: everyone places the pope that suits them and adjusts the count to make it fit. The only certainty is that the Latin still admits two translations and that the Finis has been waiting for centuries.