How To Suicide in MARS ! Wanted Volunteers!

I'm Sending Four People to Mars for the Rest of Their Lives

Space travel has always been tainted with a few big, unavoidable problems for me. The first is that I spent all three years of my university career occasionally learning what Foucault thinks about reality television, rather than anything vaguely scientific that would teach me how to launch myself through earth's atmosphere without dying immediately. The second is that everything is just so staggeringly, unfathomably far away. The half hour commute to work is bad enough; three days to get to a pretty nondescript floating hunk of rock just seems pointless and like a massive waste of time that could be spent not crowded up in a little shuttle hurtling through the sky.

Although, I suppose if there was an exciting prospect at the end of the journey I wouldn't mind so much. Like a new, ready-made home for me to spend the rest of my years, for example. Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp is going to be furnishing those exact dreams with his Mars One project, which aims to build a liveable settlement on Mars, before sending four humans to live there for the rest of their lives in 2023, followed by more batches of people as the years go on, living there for the REST of their lives.        

Besides that minor detail, his project is remarkable in that it aims to raise the majority of its funding through creating the biggest media spectacle the world has ever known – covering every stage of the project and allowing viewers to vote on who gets to take the trip – rather than relying on governments and having to deal with any kind of political interference. I met Bas for a drink to talk about his plans.

 VICE: So tell me what sparked this whole idea of sending people to live the rest of their lives on Mars.
Bas Lansdorp: I was originally inspired around 15 years ago when the first rover landed on Mars. I basically thought it'd be much cooler if humans were walking up on Mars, rather than the machine. I always wanted to go myself and knew I didn't stand a chance if I went through the normal NASA or European Space Agency (ESA) procedures, but I kind of forgot about the idea when I started studying mechanical engineering. Then, a few years later, someone told me that the Americans were planning a one-way trip to Mars – which is so much more feasible than a return mission – so I decided to drop everything and go for it.

What were you doing at the time?
I was working at a company, but I sold half my shares to get things going. Then John de Mol, the inventor of Big Brother, told me I could finance the project through the media, so I thought 'I really have to take this chance now.' I mean, it's extremely complex, but I have to take the risk and do it.

Yeah, it's interesting that you're planning on funding the whole project with media money.
Well, we have other revenue ideas, of course, but yeah – we need to finance a lot of things before we can send any humans out to Mars and creating a media spectacle is a good way to do that. I'll just add that it's not my main goal to create a media spectacle, though. There are much easier ways of doing that than sending humans on a one-way mission to Mars.

 Ha, yeah I assume there probably are. How much is it going to cost?
It's going to be £3.8 billion to set it up, then another £630 million for each one of the four astronauts. I initially thought that number was unrealistically high, but the International Olympic Committee had a revenue of one or two billion pounds for one three-week-long event, so that's half a billion a week, which makes our numbers not look too bad.

Literally everybody who has access to internet or TV will watch it and, by that time, nearly four billion people will have the internet, so imagine being the brand that sponsors an event like that. You'll immediately have the biggest name on the planet.  It's a lot of money, but I'm very entrepreneurial and also very down to earth, so I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe it was possible.

Cool. So what's the process? What's being sent up first?
We've got a demonstration mission in 2016 to show the technology that we've purchased, which is where we'll send a communications satellite to Mars, then, in 2018, we'll send a rover up to find the best location for the settlement.   

What factors determine a good place for a settlement?
It's got to be north enough to have a good amount of water crystals in the soil and south enough for the solar panels to be effective. It's gonna be on the northern hemisphere because the seasons are less extreme there. But it's also got to be as low as possible in altitude, because Mars has a very thin atmosphere and the lower down you go, the more time you'll have to slow down and land safely.

 And everything is going to be ready built for the humans' arrival, right?
Yeah, everything will land in big pre-built components that will be assembled by the rovers. There'll be two capsules for the life support system, two capsules for the living units and two capsules with supplies.   

Nice. Is it right that the astronauts are being picked with a lottery system?
No, that was just something some news show said. The way we're doing it is to have our experts determine who's suitable from those who apply, then we'll ask the audience who they want to send to Mars. The people picked will be the world's first ambassadors to Mars, so it's important that the general public have their say.

What would be your perfect candidate?
Well, when I started, I thought we'd need doctors and engineers, but the most important thing is actually the person's personality. You need someone who's capable of sitting in a very small vehicle for the seven month journey, then able to cope mentally with leaving earth behind. The medical and engineering aspects are obviously very important, too, but we'll train them in those for the eight years before they leave, so it's the personality that's the most crucial thing. 

 What happens if two of the astronauts have a baby, or something? 
Well, that's not the goal. We're putting people up there, but they'll be largely responsible for their own actions. Because of the time difference between Earth and Mars, it's not like we'll be able to say, "Pick up that rock" or guide them through stuff in realtime, so they'll have to be responsible.

And any responsible person knows that Mars – with only three other people for company – probably isn't the ideal place to have a baby. The means to get a baby into the world will be there, though, and the long-term goal is create an outpost where that could happen – maybe when there's 20 or 30 people there. 

So you eventually want to start a whole new Martian society?
Yeah, that should be the goal. We want to establish a small self-supporting society on Mars that doesn’t need the Earth anymore. Although, it's such long-term planning that it's not really something you can keep under control, so we'll have to see.

Do you want to go and live on Mars eventually?
I wanted to. I talked to our medical director, Norbert Craft, though, and he said I don't have the patience or the calmness to cope. I'm the architect and the entrepreneur, not the right person to actually go on the mission, but I will be extremely, extremely jealous when the first four people leave.

 One of my friends put his name down for it. He's always wanted to live in the remote Scottish wilderness, so I suppose Mars would be an even better alternative.
Oh, cool. We just got a bid from an investor, so we're getting really close to signing contracts with our suppliers. When that happens, we think we'll be far enough along to start selecting astronauts.

Nice, I'll let him know. Lastly, what's your personal mission with this? Scientific discovery? Moving the human race forward? Or just leaving your mark on the universe?
Somewhere in the middle, I suppose. I’m interested in the science – I mean, imagine if we found life on Mars. We don't know how much life there is in the universe, let alone on our neighbouring planet. And who knows – it could even bring us closer to understanding the history of the solar system and where we all come from. Of course, the prospect of putting humanity on a different planet is also just breathtaking. It seemed incomprehensible to me before, so my biggest motivation at the moment is to achieve sending the first ever people to Mars. 

The Hottest Temperatures for 1,400 Years

 Late 20th century was warmest in 1,400 years

PARIS, France - Earth was cooling until the end of the 19th century and a hundred years later, the planet's surface was on average warmer than at any time in the previous 1,400 years, according to climate records presented on Sunday, April 21.

In a study spanning two millennia published in Nature Geoscience, scientists said a "long-term cooling trend" around the world swung into reverse in the late 19th century.

In the 20th century, the average global temperature was 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than that of the previous 500 years, with only Antarctica bucking the trend.

From 1971-2000, the planet was warmer than at any other time in nearly 1,400 years.

This measure is a global average, and some regions did experience warmer periods than that -- but only for a time. Europe, for instance, was probably warmer in the first century AD than at the end of the 20th century.

The investigation is the first attempt to reconstruct temperatures over the last 2,000 years for individual continents.

It seeks to shed light on a fiercely-contested aspect in the global-warming debate.

Skeptics have claimed bouts of cooling or warming before the Industrial Revolution -- including two episodes in Europe called the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age -- are proof that climate variations are natural, not man-made.

The new study does not wade into the debate about greenhouse gases, but points to two planetary trends.

The first is a clear, prolonged period of cooling. It may have been caused by a combination of factors, including an increase in volcanic activity, with stratospheric ashes reflecting the sunlight, or a decrease in solar activity or tiny changes in Earth's orbit, both of which would diminish sunlight falling on the planet.

The cooling -- between 0.1-0.3 C (0.2-0.6 F) per thousand years, depending on the region -- went into reverse towards the end of the 19th century, and was followed by an intensifying period of warming in the 20th, the paper said.

Beneath this global trend over 2,000 years were episodes of continental cooling or warming, some of which were quite long.

And some continents lagged the overall planetary trend, but with the exception of Antarctica, all followed it.

"Distinctive periods, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age stand out, but do not show a globally uniform pattern on multi-decadal time scales," said Heinz Wanner of the University of Bern in Switzerland, one of 78 researchers from 24 countries who took part in the project.

"There are things that are common to all the regions of the planet -- long-term cooling, until the 19th century, followed by warming on all continents, except for Antarctica, where it is less clear, but also strong variations from one region to another," Hugues Goosse, a climatologist at Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven, told AFP.

Previous research into climate change has pointed to a warming spurt in the 20th century and attributed it to the rise of heat-trapping carbon gases emitted by burning coal, oil and gas.

The warming trend shifted up a gear in the middle of the 1970s, in line with record-breaking levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), according to this past research.

2012 saw the 36th straight year that global temperatures were above average since 1880, when scientifically acceptable records were first kept, and was the ninth or 10th warmest on record, US scientists said in January.

The temperature reconstruction published on Sunday was coordinated by a scientific initiative called the Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2K Network.

It brings together weather data as well as telltales of temperature variation from tree rings, pollen, corals, lake and marine sediments, ice cores and stalagmites garnered at 511 locations across seven continental-scale regions.

Male Will Be Extinct - Be Prepared !!

The end of men? Expert predicts males will be extinct in five million years... and the process has already started!

    Leading Australian expert says 'inherent fragility' of the male sex chromosome will lead to male demise
    Says the research is 'very bad news' for all men

Battle of the sexes: A leading Australian expert says 'inherent fragility' of the male sex chromosome will lead to male demise

Men are living on borrowed time, according to a leading female scientist.

Professor Jenny Graves even claims the male of the species is heading for extinction.

And chaps, the bad news doesn’t end there, because the process may have already started.

Professor Graves, one of Australia’s most influential scientists, believes that women will win the battle of the sexes – and in the most definitive way possible.

She says that the inherent fragility of the male sex chromosome, the Y sex chromosome, means that men are sliding towards extinction.

Professor Graves’s prediction hinges around the number of genes on the male and female sex chromosomes.

The female, or X, chromosome, contains a healthy 1,000 or so genes.

What's more, girls and women have two of them.

The Y chromosome started off with as many genes as its female counterpart.

But over hundreds of millions of years it has crumbled away, leaving fewer than 100 genes in modern man.

This includes the SRY gene, the ‘male master switch’ that determines whether an embryo is male or female.

What is more, while women have two X chromosomes, men have just one, ‘wimpy’, Y.

This is key, as the pairing allows the X to make crucial repairs.

Lacking a mate, the Y chromosome finds it more difficult to patch up mistakes and so decays away.

Professor Graves, of Canberra University, said: ‘The X chromosome is all alone in the male but in the female it has a friend, so it can swop bits and repair itself.

‘If the Y gets hit, it’s a downward spiral.’

Giving a public lecture, the professor said: ‘It is very bad news for all the men here.’

And there is more bad news.

In her talk at the Australian Academy of Science, the professor described the remaining genes on the Y chromosome as being mostly ‘junk’.

She said: ‘It’s a lovely example of what I call dumb design.

‘It’s an evolutionary accident.’

However,  there is some good news. 

Professor Graves estimates that it will take five million years for the Y chromosome, and the men it produces, to disappear all together.

Other experts urged men not to panic.

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, a sex chromosome expert from the National Institute for Medical Research in London, said that studies have shown the decay to occur in bursts.

And the Y chromosome has not lost any genes for at least 25 million years.

He said: ‘I would say this is of no concern whatsoever.’

Professor Chris Mason, of University College London, said that even if the Y chromosome does crumble away in the next few million years, medicine will have plenty of time to catch up.

He said: ‘Five or six million years should be plenty of time for medical science to produce a fix and probably a Nobel Prize.’

Professor Graves has her own solution.

She says that when Y chromosome falls to pieces, another chromosome could take on the role of the missing Y, leading to the creation of a new species of human.

There is already a precedent for this in nature, in the form of a Japanese spiny rat which has survived the loss of its Y chromosome.

In fact, the  process may already be underway in some isolated groups of people, said the professor.

She said: ‘We would not even suspect it without checking the chromosomes.’

A CHROMOSOME CRISIS

The female, or X, chromosome, contains around 1,000 genes, and females have two of them.

The Y chromosome started off with as many genes as its female counterpart.

But over hundreds of millions of years it has crumbled away, leaving fewer than 100 genes in modern man.

This includes the SRY gene, the ‘male master switch’ that determines whether an embryo is male or female.

What is more, while women have two X chromosomes, men have just one, ‘wimpy’, Y.

This is key, as the pairing allows the X to make crucial repairs.

Lacking a mate, the Y chromosome finds it more difficult to patch up mistakes and so decays away.

Thousands of Dead Fish in The Lake

Dead Fish Float In The Rodrigo De Freitas Lake In The in Rio de Janeiro

 The Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, due to host the rowing events of the 2016 Summer Olympics, was filled with dead fish earlier this week. To be exact: it was filled with 86 tons of dead fish.

The lagoon, which sits below the famous Christ the Redeemer statue, has hosted rowing events in the past (see: the 2007 Pan-Am Games), but it has also hosted other mass fish die-offs (see: 2000, 2009). And it doesn’t seem—ruling out bio-engineering or the use of a time machine—that there’s any way to prevent this from happening again:

According to Mr Moscatelli, the presence of sewage in the lake was due to problems with the lake’s outlet into the Atlantic sea, the canal of Jardim de Allah, which then caused the phenomenon, called efflorescence. Algae expert Mariângela Menezes said that samples of more than 400 per milliliter of the culprit micro-organisms were collected during the days leading up to the disaster, far above what would normally be expected.

From USA Today:

 It took 100 municipal workers 48 hours to clean up the mess, which actually sounds quite impressive when you look at the scope of the decay.

The World's Rarest Horizontal Rainbow

Un grand horizontal: Rare FLAT rainbow photographed above the Paris skyline

Horizontal 'fire rainbows' rarely seen in northern Europe but common in U.S.
Appeared in Paris for just five minutes before disappearing again

A horizontal rainbow, known as a fire rainbow, is pictured above the Paris skyline by Parisian Bertrand Kulik
Horizontal rainbows, or circumhorizon arcs, occur when cirrus clouds are elevated enough to form plate-shaped ice crystals


The view of the Eiffel Tower against the Paris skyline is breathtaking on an ordinary day, but the French capital was recently bathed in a rare horizontal rainbow.

Across the city's horizon a clear spectrum of colours emerged for a short time, in a natural phenomenon known as a fire rainbow.

Parisian Bertrand Kulik, 33, spotted the unusual display out of the window of his apartment in France's capital on March 17.

Amateur photographer Mr Kulik said: ‘I have never seen a rainbow like that before. This light phenomenon looked like a rising aurora over Paris.

'When I saw it, I had to react very fast. I was very impressed by this beauty and I knew that I could not miss it.’

The display was only visible for a short time, but Mr Kulik quickly grabbed his camera and captured the rare sight.

He added: ‘It was only possible to see it for few minutes. Often I am waiting to catch some weather pictures. Every day I hope to see some atmospheric phenomenons like that.

‘The day was tormented with a stormy sky. Even in a big city it's possible to see some amazing natural phenomenon.

‘It was a very turbulent day and I will remember it for a long time.’

The horizontal rainbow was brought on by heavy rainstorms that lashed Paris last week.

Fire rainbows, known by the proper name of circumhorizon arc, occur when cirrus clouds are far enough up in the air to form plate-shaped ice crystals.

They are not actually rainbows, but a halo effect, although they are commonly referred to as fire rainbows.

When the sun is at the right angle it hits the top of these plates and splits into different colours that are viewable on the ground.

Although such fire rainbows are relatively common in the United States, they are a rarer sight in northern Europe where the sun less frequently has the required elevation needed for it to occur.

1,000 Dead Ducks

1,000 Dead Ducks Found In China's Nanhe River; Pig Carcass Count Continues To Rise 

Chinese authorities have a new mystery to ponder after 1,000 duck carcases were found floating down the Nanhe river in the country's Sichuan province on Tuesday.

As with the puzzling count of dead pigs -- now totaling 16,000 -- found in the Huangpu river and its upstream tributaries in the last several weeks, the government has yet to offer an explanation for the phenomenon.

Liang Weidong, an official with the county's publicity office, told Xinhua, China's state news agency, the rotten birds had been found tucked into 50 woven plastic bags, from which they were removed before being sanitized and buried. As the Nanhe is not a source of drinking water, authorities say the waterfowl pose no threat to public health.

That assurance, however, seems to have had little effect with some Chinese citizens voicing their distrust on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter. Writes one person, in a translation provided by Financial Times, “How can you tell they are harmless when you don’t know how the ducks died?”

Another poster, under the username Baby Lucky, added via the BBC, "Dead pigs, dead ducks ... this soup is getting thicker and thicker."

Thick soup, indeed.

Though the appearance of ducks is a new development without even a speculative explanation, the Wall Street Journal has tentatively linked the pig carcasses to questionable "deadstock disposal" practices in the country.

Any outbreak of disease at large Chinese farms can trigger questionable disposal techniques of dead animals, explains CBS , particularly as officials have cracked down on the sale of illegal and contaminated pork products. Given the sudden lack of illegal buyers, it appears farmers have begun dumping tainted animals in the river.

"Ever since the police have stepped up efforts to crack down on the illicit market of sick pigs since last year, no one has come here to buy dead pigs, and the problem of pig dumping is worse than ever this year," said an unnamed villager to the state-run Jiaxing Daily newspaper, in a translation provided by CBS.

Carcasses are only the latest ailment to tarnish China's waterways. According to a January report by Voice of America, 40 percent of China's rivers have been classified as "seriously polluted."

In February of this year, a Chinese entrepreneur by the name of Jin Zengmin offered his local environmental protection bureau chief 200,000 yuan ($32,000) to swim in a nearby river tainted by industrial runoff. The officer refused, then explained his department was "not responsible" for the pollution.

The End Of The Day With The Last Pope

Malachy's Prophecies - The Last 10 Popes
Known to Catholics as St. Malachy (1094-1148)

Born in 1094 A.D. at Armagh, Ireland, Saint Malachy is also known as: Maolmhaodhog ua Morgair; Maol Maedoc; and Malachy O'Morgair. He died as he himself predicted, on November 2, 1148 at Clairvaux, France.  Malachy was canonized the first Irish Saint in the Catholic Church by Pope Clement III in 1190 A.D.

The correspondence between the prophecies of Saint Malachy and the Mayan Calendar (whose 'long count' ends in 2012) are alarming, to put it mildly. Why did the ancient Mayan or pre-Maya choose December 21st, 2012 A.D., as the end of their Long Count calendar?

Saint Malachy was a 12th century Irish monk, who, while on a visit to Rome had a vision of all the popes who would ever reign.  Malachy "saw"-and committed to paper- a series of Latin phrases describing the popes to come. He catalogued each one with an epigrammatic verse, such as 'the tears of the sun'.  Malachy made the prophecy in 1139.  Reportedly it was entrusted to Pope Innocent II in 1140.  But for some reason it was "lost" in the Vatican for 400 years, only to be "discovered" in 1595 A.D.  Malachy s predictions reputedly were made in 1139 while he was on a pilgrimage to the Vatican, where he was appointed papal legate for Ireland.  On his last trek to the holy see in Rome, in 1148, Malachy accurately predicted the place and time of his own death: Clairvaux, France, on All Souls Day, November 2, of that same year.

The Malachy Prophecies were first published in 1595, by a Benedictine monk & historian named Arnold de Wyon, who found them 5 years earlier in the Vatican archives. Arnold recorded them in his book, entitled: 'Lignum Vitæ'.

Malachy's Prophecies - The Last 10 Popes

1. The Burning Fire. PIUS X. 1903-1914. This Pope showed a burning passion for spiritual renewal in the Church.

2. Religion Laid Waste (Religio Depopulata). BENEDICT XV. 1914-1922. Unfortunately, this was true.  During this Pope's reign saw Communism move into Russia where religious life was laid waste, and World War I with the death of millions of Christians who were carnage in Flanders Field and elsewhere.

3. Unshaken Faith. PIUS XI. 1922-1939. This Pope faced tremendous pressure from fascist and sinister powers in Germany and Italy, but he was an outspoken critic of Communism and Fascism which enraged Hitler.

4. An Angelic Shepherd. PIUS XII. 1939-1958. This Pope had an affinity for the spiritual world and received visions which have not been made public. Peter Bander says Pius XII "has emerged as one of the great Popes of all time," and he "was in the truest sense of the word an Angelic Pastor to the flock..."

5. Pastor and Mariner. JOHN XXIII. 1958-1963. " Pastor et Nauta" or "Pastor and sailor". John was a pastor to the world, much beloved, and the Patriarch of Venice. The connection to "mariner" is thus remarkable. According Peter Bander in The Prophecies of Malachy (TAN Books and Publisher, 1969) during the conclave which was to elect John XXIII in 1958, a certain Cardinal from the United States, (Cardinal Spellman of New York) evidently having taken Malachy's forecast that the next pope would be "pastor and mariner" literally, rented a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber.

6. Flower of Flowers. "Flos Florum" PAUL VI. 1963-1978. Paul's coat-of-arms depicts three fleurs-de-lis, corresponding to Malachy's prophecy. His coat of arms included three fleurs-de-lis (iris blossoms).  At the popular and controversial site of Garabandal in Spain, a seer named Conchita Gonzalez once noted: “The Blessed Virgin said in 1962 that there will only be two more popes after Paul VI.”

7. Of the Half Moon. "De Medietate Lanae," or "from the half moon" JOHN PAUL I. 1978-1978. John Paul I was elected Pope on August 26, 1978, when there was a half moon. He reigned 33 days, that is, about one month, when he died, although many think he was murdered. He was the 109th Pope - is "De Medietate Lunae" (Of the Half Moon). The corresponding pope was John Paul I (1978-78), who was born in the diocese of Belluno (beautiful moon) and was baptized Albino Luciani which means white light, such as that given off by the half-moon in Malachy s prophecy. He became pope on August 26, 1978, when the moon appeared exactly half full. It was in its waning phase. He died the following month, soon after an eclipse of the moon.

8. The Labor of the Son. "De Medietate Lunae" JOHN PAUL II. 1978-2005

Amazingly, Pope John Paul II was the only pope who was both born the day of an eclipse of the sun, and entombed the day the sun was eclipsed.
One of Malachy's strangest predictions concerned the pope who would follow 'De Medietate Lunae'. He is designated as 'De Labore Solis', or 'from the toil of the sun'. Applied to John Paul II, this phrase reveals nothing less than a double prophecy. John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), the first non-Italian elected in 456 years, was a native of Krakow, Poland. Krakow is the city where, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Copernicus 'toiled'; for years to prove his heretical theory that the earth revolved around the sun. Many of Malachy s interpreters also suggested that the 'sun' reference indicated a young pope. Fifty-eight years old at the time of his election, John Paul II was the youngest pope in over a century.

John Paul II was the most traveled Pope in history. He has circled the globe numerous times, preaching to huge audiences everywhere he goes. Even though he was once shot, he has not seemed to slow down. He has recently written a book which has enjoyed a large circulation.

Like the sun which never ceases to labor and provides light daily, this Pope has been incessant. John Paul compared abortion to the Holocaust and denounced gay marriages as part of 'a new ideology of evil'. He argued that same-sex marriages threaten society by undermining the traditional family.

John Paul II was born on May 18, 1920. On that date in the morning there was a near total eclipse of the sun over Europe. Prophecy - The 110th Pope is 'De Labore Solis' (Of the Solar Eclipse, or, From the Toil of the Sun). The corresponding pope is John Paul II (1978-2005). Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) was born on May 18, 1920 during an eclipse of the sun. Like the sun he came out of the East (Poland). Like the sun he has visited countries all around the globe while doing his work. Karol was the first non-Italian pope in 456 years. He was ordained on November 1, 1946 and earned a doctorate in ethics at the Angelicum University in Rome. He was made auxiliary bishop in 1958 and Archbishop in 1964 of Krakow and Cardinal in 1967. He was elected the first Polish pope on October 1978. He spoke eight languages and he traveled more than any other pope in history. John Paul II died at the Vatican on Saturday, April 2, 2005, the same day as a partial eclipse, visible in the Americas.

John Paul II may also be connected to the revelation of Saint Faustina Kowalska of Poland (quoting Jesus), "I bear a special love for Poland and if she will be obedient to My Will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming" (Diary "Divine Mercy in My Soul").

Disturbing about Pope John Paul II is that no other Pope in history ever has called for a "New World Order", and this pope waited until he had sat on the Throne of Peter for over 25 years!  Why would Pope John Paul II wait for 25 long years before announcing his affinity for the New World Order?  A "New World Order" is known in the esoteric realm as "the kingdom of the Christ" -- but thought by many in the Bible as an Antichrist (or Antichrist system). Was it because John Paul was senile or carried away with his own desire for ecumenicalism/friendship?

Other things John Paul II did while very old were: he also kissed the pagan Qur'an and said that Islam and Christians had the same God.  Would the God of the Bible agree to tell the lies about Jesus that Islam does?  Islam lies that Jesus never even died on a cross, and Islam also says that Jesus is not divine.

9. The Glory of the Olive. The Order of St. Benedict has said this Pope will come from their order. It is interesting that Jesus gave his apocalyptic prophecy about the end of time from the Mount of Olives. This Pope will reign during the beginning of the tribulation Jesus spoke of. The 111th prophesy is "Gloria Olivae" (The Glory of the Olive). The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil.  Traditionally, the olive branch has been associated with peace, but in both the Old and New Testaments it also serves as an emblem for the Jews. Putting the two together, some commentators believe that the reign of this pope will be a peaceful one during which the prophesied conversion of the Jews will take place. Several ex-Jews are said to be highly placed in the Catholic Church now.  And, it is noteworthy that the previous Benedict (XV) was a pope obsessed with peace. Some others say, he will lead all faithful followers of the Lord Jesus to martyrdom and others say that he will tear down the walls of the Vatican, auctioning off all the objects within, in order to feed and enlighten those in the 3rd World who have not yet heard the Gospel of Christ.

Bible Probe Comment:  The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil.

LOOK at the above again. The next pope will have something to do with OLIVE --not necessarily or even probably a Benedictine.

Malachy DID NOT prophesize it would be a Benedictine! Someone in the Benedictine Order said they think the next pope will come from the Benedictines. GET THAT STRAIGHT!

Also, St Benedict prophesized: before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil. NOTHING was mentioned as leading as a pope!

Pope Benedict XVI (16th) was not a Benedictine priest, yet he chose the name of Benedict, the founder of the Order of Saint Benedict, which also is known as the Olivetans. Benedict the 16th also said he also selected the name Benedict in part as a homage to Pope Benedict XV (15th), who guided the church through World War I, and within days of being named pope - decrying what he saw as "Cafeteria Catholicism" — in which churchgoers obey only the parts of the Church canon they find appealing.

10. PETER THE ROMAN - The 112th prophesy states: "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End."  The last pope may just cut Catholics loose from unity and the papacy, causing total disruption and confusion. See Saint Francis of Assissi's 13th century prophecy below.  It is believed the next pope will

Will "The Glory of the Olive" be the last Pope?

The problem with the prophecies as listed in The Prophecies of St. Malachy, published by the Thomas A. Nelson, a Catholic Publishing House, is that Malachy's original works listed only 111 Popes, not 112, as given in the TAN version of the prophecies. Sometime between the first and subsequent printings the 112th, Petrus Romanus, was added to Malachy's prophecy. It was added after the 1820 publication of the prophecies.

On April 19th, 2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th Pope.  The name Benedict means "blessing". Does this name automatically fulfill this prophecy?

    April 21, 2005 - Mary Jo Anderson, a Catholic scholar and writer, says the Pope's choice of his name is not related to the prophecy of St. Malachy. Instead, she thinks the new pope chose his moniker as a reference to sixth-century St. Benedict and his quest to protect Rome from invading German pagans...claiming the pontiff hopes to protect the modern-day Church from destructive philosophies that originated in Germany.   Source:WorldNetDaily

Of note: Benedict XV — who reigned from 1914 to 1922 — was a moderate following Pius X, who had implemented a sharp crackdown against doctrinal "modernism."

Will the papacy of this 78 year old pope be short lived?  Is this the beginning of Tribulation?  Will the next pope be the last pope?  Will the next pope be a Roman and choose the name Peter?  The Or, will Tribulation begin AFTER the Anti-Christ has shown himself as a person of peace and already made peace with Israel's enemies for seven years?  Can we read anything into Putin's recent visit to Israel?

On Monday, 11 February 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI (16th) said he would resign/abdicate by the end of the month, citing failing health reasons.

Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) took the position of pope as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breaking.

Of interest, there is one leading candidate to replace the frail Pope Benedict. That is Italy's Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, who is the Cardinal Secretary of State. Cardinal Bertone was born in Romano, Italy. With the name Pietro (Peter), and being from Romano - could this be 'Peter the Roman'? Of interest is the fact that in the interim (known as 'sede vacante') between the resignation/abdication of Benedict and the appointment of the next pope (by Easter?), it will be Cardinal Bertone who will be called upon as 'Camerlengo' to serve as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Some say Benedict favored Bertone as his successor...

The lightning touched the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, one of the holiest Catholic churches, hours after Benedict XVI's shock announcement. This striking image was captured by photographer Filippo Monteforte. Filippo said “I took the picture from St. Peter’s Square while sheltered by the columns. It was icy cold and the rain was falling in sheets. When the storm started, I thought that lightning might strike the rod, so I decided it was worth seeing whether – if it DID strike – I could get the shot at exactly the right moment.” Armed with a 50mm lens, Filippo waited. And waited. More than two hours. And then it happened. Twice. “The first bolt was huge and lit up the sky, but unfortunately I missed it. I had better luck the second time, and was able to snap a couple of images of the dome illuminated by the bolt.”

Malachy's final words:

In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city (Rome, the seat of the Vatican) will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.
It is striking that at least one pope had a similar mystical vision:

In 1909, while granting an audience, pope Pius X leaned back and closed his eyes. Suddenly he "awoke" and cried out: "What I see is terrifying. Will it be myself? Will it be my successor? What is certain is that the pope will quit Rome, and in leaving the Vatican, he will have to walk over the dead bodies of his priests."

Pius's prophecy was fulfilled neither in his own time nor in that of the next pontiff. According to Malachy's vision of the Church's "tribulation," it applies to the successor of Gloria Olivae-the next pope but one.

Some OTHER Similar and Startling Prophecies follow:

John Bosco (from 40 Dreams of John Bosco)

St. Bosco narrated his vision on May 30, 1862

Does this speak of John Paul II?

John Bosco vividly described visions of turbulent water and persecution: enemy boats attacking the ship as the Pope sought to bring the ship between the two columns (one with a statue of the Virgin, labeled Auxilium Christianorum, or "help of Christians," the second, much taller, with a Host, labeled Salus Credentium, or "salvation of the faithful").

John Bosco said, "Suddenly the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to help him and they lift him up. A second time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and joy rings out amongst the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises.

This of course sounds much like John Paul II -- who has promoted both the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother and who just recently established new mysteries of the Rosary, which were followed by an historic encyclical on the Eucharist. Those are certainly "pillars" of the Catholic Church.  We must also call to mind the shooting of John Paul II on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter's Square.  Or, is this a composite image that could relate to both John Paul II and his immediate predecessor, John Paul I, both of whom were stricken. It may symbolize the way Pope John Paul I came in, served for only 33 days, and then died in 1979 (some believe suspiciously) -- succeeded by the recently deceased John Paul II, who promoted the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist as few pontiffs have.

No pope in history was more dedicated to the Virgin Mary than John Paul II and he had declared the current year as the “Year of the Eucharist.” So dedicated was the Pope that an "M" for Mary was placed on his casket, and this too circled into the St Faustina revelation. As Cardinal Ratzinger pointed out in his funeral homily Friday, 15 April 05, "the Holy Father found the purest reflection of God's mercy in the Mother of God."  Also, Evidence suggests that John Paul II was the Pope spoken of at Fatima.  Read "Deception of the Century" about Pope John Paul I's possible murder: here

Pope John Paul II predicted a new spring time in the church...the Catholic Church may well be on the very threshold of this!

Does the below dream of John Bosco speak of the new Benedict XVI and his rather quick election?

John Bosco says,

"But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another takes his place. The pilots, having met together, have elected the Pope so promptly that the news of the death of the Pope coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage."

"The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.

Saint Hildegard (12th Century)

The time is coming when princes and peoples will reject the authority of the Pope. Some countries will prefer their own Church rulers to the Pope. The German Empire will be divided.

Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. The great nation in the ocean that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent will be devastated by earthquake, storm, and tidal wave. It will be divided and, in great part, submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea and lose its colonies.

[After the] great Comet, the great nation will be devastated by earthquakes, storms, and great waves of water, causing much want and plagues. The ocean will also flood many other countries, so that all coastal cities will live in fear, with many destroyed.

All sea coast cities will be fearful, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from a horrible disease. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the Laws of God.

A powerful wind will rise in the North, carrying heavy fog and the densest dust, and it will fill their throats and eyes so that they will cease their butchery and be stricken with a great fear.

Bishop Christianos Ageda (12th Century)

In the 20th century there will be wars and fury that will last a long time; whole provinces shall be emptied of their inhabitants, and kingdoms shall be thrown into confusion. In many places the land shall be left untilled, and there shall be great slaughters of the upper class. The right hand of the world shall fear the left, and the north shall prevail over the south.

Abbot Werdin D'Orante (12th Century)

The great monarch and the great Pope will precede Antichrist. The nations will be at war for four years and a great part of the world will be destroyed. The Pope will go over the sea carrying the sign of Redemption on his forehead. The great Monarch will come to restore peace and the Pope will share in the victory.

John of Vitiguerro (13th Century)

The pope will change his residence and the Church will not be defended for twenty-five months or more because, during all that time there will be no Pope in Rome... After many tribulations, a Pope shall be elected out of those who survived the persecutions.

Johannes Friede (1204-1257)

When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy great regions, and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but mankind will penetrate into the bowels of the earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder, and the age of iron will plunge into nothingness.

When nights will be filled with more intensive cold and days with heat, a new life will begin in nature. The heat means radiation from the earth, the cold the waning light of the sun. Only a few years more and you will become aware that sunlight has grown perceptibly weaker. When even your artificial light will cease to give service, the great event in the heavens will be near.

St. Vincent Ferrer (14th Century)

In the days of peace that are to come after the desolation of revolutions and wars, before the end of the world, the Christians will become so lax in their religion that they will refuse to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, saying, "It is an unnecessary Sacrament."
John of the Cleft Rock (14th Century)

Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history. But God will raise a holy Pope, and the Angels will rejoice. Enlightened by God, this man will rebuild almost the whole world through his holiness. He will lead everyone to the true Faith.

Maria Laach Monastery (16th Century)

The twentieth century will bring death and destruction, apostasy from the Church, discord in families, cities and governments; it will be the century of three great wars with intervals of a few decades. They will become ever more devastating and bloody and will lay in ruins not only Germany, but finally all countries of East and West. After a terrible defeat of Germany will follow the next great war. There will be no bread for people anymore and no fodder for animals. Poisonous clouds, manufactured by human hands, will sink down and exterminate everything. The human mind will be seized by insanity.

Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th Century)

The fifth period of the Church, which began circa 1520, will end with the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called "Help From God" because he will restore everything. The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on earth.

During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude the Apostle spoke when he said, "These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do." They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments.

These are the evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. but God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down churches and destroy everything.

Venerable Mary of Agreda (17th Century)

It was revealed to me that through the intercession of the Mother of God, all heresies will disappear. This victory over heresies has been reserved by Christ for His Blessed Mother... Before the Second Coming of Christ, Mary must, more than ever, shine in mercy, might and grace in order to bring unbelievers into the Catholic Faith.

Sister Marianne de Jesus Torres (17th Century)

The most Holy Trinity confirmed the desire of my Queen, assuring that God will bless all those who, by their support and help, contribute in the making of the Holy Statue, as well as all those who help spread this devotion (to Our Lady of Good Success) throughout the centuries, making known its origin and these apparitions in the 20th century. This will be a time of great corruption of customs. The sacred sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised, for in doing this, one scorns and defiles the Church of God, and even God Himself, represented by His priests. The Demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way.

The Ecstatic of Tours (19th Century)

Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is ensured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France.

For some time the Church will be without a Pope.

Pope Pius IX (1878)

Since the whole world is against God and His Church, it is evident that He has reserved the victory over His enemies to Himself. This will be more obvious when it is considered that the root of all our present evils is to be found in the fact that those with talents and vigor crave earthly pleasures, and not only desert God but repudiate Him altogether. Thus it appears they cannot be brought back in any other way except through an act that cannot be ascribed to any secondary agency, and thus all will be forced to look to the supernatural...

There will come a great wonder, which will fill the world with astonishment. This wonder will be preceded by the triumph of revolution. The church will suffer exceedingly. Her servants and her chieftain will be mocked, scourged, and martyred.

Saint Francis of Assissi (1226 A.D.)              

Prophecy of St. Francis of Assisi (d. 1226): “There will be an uncanonically elected Pope who will cause a great schism, there will be diverse thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders to doubt, yea, even agree with those heretics which will cause my Order to divide, then will there be such universal dissensions and persecutions that if those days were not shortened even the elect would be lost.” (Rev. Culleton, The Reign of Antichrist, Tan Books, 1974, p. 130.).  Some believe this prophecy referred to the controversy surrounding the election of Pope John XXIII and Cardinal Siri.  But it could refer to the next and last pope (Peter the Roman).  The last pope may just cut Catholics loose from unity and the papacy, causing total disruption and confusion.

John Paul II said he saw the ongoing defection  John Paul II also believed in the second prophecy of Fatima about the Apostasy coming in the Catholic Church.  It is noteworthy that John Paul II appointed 185 of the Cardinals who elected Benedict XVI.  It may be that John Paul II took steps to ensure a conservative pope followed him.

Sister Catherine Emmerick (1823)

Is this schism? Could Sister Emmerick be referring here to the Novus Ordo (One World Order/Church), whose baneful effects are now so apparent everywhere? Especially in view of what she said in April, 1823:

    "I saw many pastors cherishing dangerous ideas against the Church. . . . I saw among other things. . . the Church under N___________. In all the rooms lay his children (that is, his plans), a full collection of his views. . . . He had set fire to the house, and I with others had to save the goods and convey them to the sheepfold. They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was "to embrace all creeds with equal rights; Evangelicals, Catholics and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock. There was to be a Pope, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it he had set fire to the old one; but God designed otherwise."

Anna-Maria Taigi (Blessed) (19th century, Italy)

Her maiden name was Giannetti.  She was born at Siena, Italy, 29 May, 1769; died at Rome, 9 June, 1837.  From the time she was 20 years old, until she died at the age of 63, she was accompanied by a mysterious light in which she saw past, present and future events...some relating to struggles among nations; some relating to individual souls.

Popes and cardinals have referred to this holy married woman as one of the greatest saints of all time. She was praised by Pope Benedict XV in her beatification on May 20, 1920 as being an exemplary wife and mother amid poor and trying circumstances. She was frequently in ecstasy, worked miracles of healing, read hearts, foretold deaths, and saw visions on the coming of future events. She foretold the first two world wars of this century. Eighteen years after her death, her body remained fresh and in a state of perfect preservation as if it had been just buried the day before. The following is her prophecy on the three days of darkness.

"God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy."

"All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms."

"Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome." (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, Tan Books and Publishers, 1973)

Pope Leo XIII (13th)
Pope from 1878-1903
 
The Vision Of Pope Leo XIII

    October 13, 1884

    Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo the 13th had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

    The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord:
    "I can destroy your Church."

    The gentle voice of Our Lord:
    "You can? Then go ahead and do so."

    Satan:
    "To do so, I need more time and more power."

    Our Lord:
    "How much time? How much power?

    Satan:
    "75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those
    who will give themselves over to my service."

    Our Lord:
    "You have the time, you will have the power.
    Do with them what you will."

    -----
    This happened in 1884. The devil said he needed 75 to 100 years. Well, 75 years from 1884 is 1959. On January 25, 1959, John XXIII publicly summoned the Second Vatican Council.

Nostradamus - Quatrains
Century 2, Quatrain 41

The great star will burn for seven days,
The cloud will cause two suns to appear:
The big mastiff will howl all night
When the great pontiff will change country.

The Mystery of 2,200 Dead Pigs

Mystery As 2,200 Dead Pigs Are Fished Out Of China's Huangpu River In Shanghai

A dead pig floats on the river Monday, March 11, 2013 on the outskirts of Shanghai, China. A recent surge in the dumping of dead pigs upstream from Shanghai - with more than 2,800 carcasses floating into the financial hub through Monday - has followed a police campaign to curb the illicit trade in sick pig parts.

Chinese officials have fished 2,200 dead pigs out of Shanghai's Huangpu River, which is used as a drinking water source for many residents.

According to a statement posted on Shanghai's Agriculture Committee's website there is no evidence the pigs were dumped in the river, nor of any animal epidemics.

The city's water supplies bureau had insisted the water quality has not been affected, China Daily reported.

The carcasses of 2,200 pigs have been fished from Shanghai's Huangpu River

But fears of water pollution were emerging on Monday after the number of carcasses climbed from 900 to 2,200, Reuters reports.

The Global Times quotes Xu Rong, director of Shanghai Songjiang District Environmental Protection Bureau as saying: "We have to act quickly to remove them all for fear of causing water pollution."

The Last Pope On Earth

Are cardinals electing the last pope? If you believe Nostradamus...
 

Lighting strikes the basilica of St.Peter's dome in Vatican City during a storm on Feb.11, 2013, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation.

ROME— Church bells are sounding the alarm for doomsayers and conspiracy theorists here as cardinals convene to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

According to an ancient prediction, this next pope will be the last.

That theory dates back more than 900 years to when Malachy O’Morgair, the 12th century Archbishop of Ireland, had a vision.

Legend has it that St. Malachy, as he is now known, had a strange dream while on a visit to Rome. He “saw” all the names of the future popes – complete with identifying characteristics – who would rule the church until the end of time.

Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes,” as his vision is called, named Benedict XVI as the 111th – and penultimate – pope. The vision ended with the 112th pope.

Clairvoyant or crazy?
In his book, “Life of St. Malachy,” St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that Malachy was respected as a clairvoyant who predicted the exact day and hour of his own death.  At least one 20th century pope, Pius X, was convinced Malachy’s vision was divine, according to Rafael Merry del Val, his biographer.

But theologians and clerics argue there was never an authentic written manuscript. Malachy’s list was curiously discovered in 1590 in the Vatican archives, hundreds of years later.

“There is no historical foundation at all to St. Malachy’s list,” said Roberto Rusconi, professor of the History of Christianity at Rome’s University. “Malachy’s gift was to make other people believe in his predictions.”

Others have taken hold of Malachy’s list and compared it with history.

The first pope, according to the list, would be “from a castle on the Tiber” – for believers, that was clearly Pope Celestine II who was born on the shores of the Tiber River.

Pope Benedict was apparently described as “glory of the olives” and doomsayers point to his choice of the name Benedict, since the founder of the Benedictine Order was also known as Olivetans.

And in Malachy’s vision, the last pope – who will soon be elected – is described this way: “in extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman…”

While none of the Italian Cardinals are called Peter, one favorite to become Pope is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.

Nostradamus: a comet and a lightning bolt
If that was not enough to send shivers down a few spines, Nostradamus, the 16th century French astrologer and seer, predicted much the same as Malachy.

Nostradamus, a mild-mannered healer, was content to mix potions until the Italian-born French queen, Catherine de Medici, raised his profile from physician to prophet.

Nostradamus warned that the next-to-last pope would “flee Rome in December when the great comet is seen in the daytime.”

Taking into account the calendar months were different hundreds of years ago, Nostradamus wasn’t so far off. The Comet ISON, with its 40,000 mile-long tail, has been visible the past couple months as Benedict prepared to abdicate and leave Rome for his temporary home in Castel Gandolfo.

And for those well-versed in the language of brimstone and fire, the signs could not have been more transparent when just hours after Benedict announced he would abdicate, a bolt of lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica, the very heart of Christianity. A few days later a shower of meteorites fell and devastated a village in Russia.

Cynics shrugged all this off as natural phenomena, while the doomsayers suffered from one more dose of existential angst.

In St. Paul Outside the Walls, another major cathedral in Rome, medallions line the walls with the names of every pope and the dates of his papacy.  Legend says that when all the medallions are full, the world will finally end.  On the walls of St. Paul’s, there are still some empty spaces.

Perhaps the end isn’t so near.

Doomsday Fact Sheet

Fear not !  The hoax is exposed.

Here's an extract from DOOMSDAY FACT SHEET 2012 from David Morrison, Senior Scientist, NASA LUNAR SCIENCE INSTITUTE and Director, Carl Segan Centre for Life Studies in the Universe. Hope you find it interesting.

    

    Mayan Calendar: The Maya calendar, which is made up different cycles of day counts, does not end this year. Rather, one cycle of 144,000 days (394 years) ends and the next cycle begins.

    Mayan Prophecy: The ancient Maya did not predict the end of the world or any disaster in December 2012. Such doomsday predictions are a modern hoax.

    Planet Nibiru: Nibiru is probably the minor name of a god found in ancient Mesopotamian writing. There is no planet named Nibiru, and the fictional books by economist Zecharia Sitchin about a civilization on this planet are a hoax.

    Rogue Planet Headed for Earth: For the past decade there have been reports of a rogue object (Planet X, or Nibiru, or Hercubolus, or even Comet Elenin) that will collide with Earth in December 2012. These claims are not true. If such a threatening world existed, it would be one of the brightest objects in the sky, and astronomers would have been tracking it for years. If it existed, its gravity would be distorting the orbits of planets, especially Mars and Earth. Astronomers know that it does not exist.

    Planet Alignments: There is no alignment of planets in Dec 2012. There is an approximate lining up of the Earth and Sun and the center of our Galaxy in late December, but this happens every year. In any case, planet alignments have no effect on the Earth.

    Pole Shift: There is nothing strange this year about either the magnetic poles or the rotational poles of the Earth. The magnetic polarity changes every million years or so, but that is not happening now, and it probably takes thousands of years when it does happen. A sudden change in the rotational axis has never happened and is not possible. If there were any change in the Earth’s rotation, it would be instantly apparent by failure of our GPS systems.

    Increasing Disasters: Our planet is behaving normally in 2012, although we see more and more news stories about natural disasters. There has been no increase in earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. There has been an increase in extreme weather, including both droughts and floods, which are partly attributable to global warming, but this has nothing to do with a 2012 doomsday.

    Solar Outbursts: The Sun’s ongoing 11-year activity cycle is expected to peak in 2013, not 2012. Solar outbursts (flares and CMEs) can damage orbiting satellites but will not hurt us on the surface. The strength of the 2013 solar maximum is predicted to be lower than average, not higher.

    Bunker Conspiracy: Accusations of a massive government cover-up are nonsense. No government could hide an incoming planet or silence hundreds of thousands of scientists. Rumors that huge bunkers have been built in the U.S. or elsewhere to shelter the elite are lies. Apparently a few people are building private shelters, but their fear of 2012 is misplaced and they are wasting their money.

    Scaring Children: The group most vulnerable to doomsday claims is children. Teachers report that many of their students are frightened and some are even considering suicide. This is the most tragic consequence of the 2012 hoax.

    The End of the World: The idea of the sudden end of the world by any cause is absurd. The Earth has been here for more than 4 billion years, and it will be several more billion years before the gradual brightening of the Sun makes our planet unlivable. Meanwhile there is no known astronomical or geological threat that could destroy the Earth.

    Cosmophobia: Many young people write to me that they are scared of astronomy. When they read about some new discovery, the first thing they think is that it might hurt them, even if it is happening in a distant galaxy. There is no reason for such fears, which I call cosmophobia (fear of the universe). This rash of concern seems to be the result of too many conspiracy theories and sensational stories featured on the Internet and irresponsible news outlets. Astronomical objects are so distant that they cannot threaten the Earth. Please don’t be afraid of the Sun or the planets or comets or asteroids. The universe is not your enemy.

    

    DOOMSDAY FACT SHEET - 2012

    David Morrison

    Senior Scientist, NASA LUNAR SCIENCE INSTITUTE

    Director – Carl Segan Centre for Study of Life Science in the Universe

Doomsday Clock

End Near? Doomsday Clock Holds at 5 'Til Midnight

The hands of the infamous "Doomsday Clock" will remain firmly in their place at five minutes to midnight — symbolizing humans' destruction — for the year 2013, scientists announced at Jan. 14.

Keeping their outlook for the future of humanity quite dim, the group of scientists also wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama, urging him to partner with other global leaders to act on climate change.

The clock is a symbol of the threat of humanity's imminent destruction from nuclear or biological weapons, climate change and other human-caused disasters. In making their deliberations about how to update the clock's time this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists considered the current state of nuclear arsenals around the globe, the slow and costly recovery from events like Fukushima nuclear meltdown, and extreme weather events that fit in with a pattern of global warming.

"2012 was the hottest year on record in the contiguous United States, marked by devastating drought and brutal storms," the letter says. "These extreme events are exactly what climate models predict for an atmosphere laden with greenhouse gases." [Doom and Gloom: 10 Post-Apocalyptic Worlds]

At the same time, the letter did give a nod to some progress, applauding the president for taking steps to "nudge the country along a more rational energy path," with his support for wind and other renewable energy sources.

"We have as much hope for Obama's second term in office as we did in 2010, when we moved back the hand of the Clock after his first year in office," Robert Socolow, chair of the board that determines the clock's position, said in a statement. "This is the year for U.S. leadership in slowing climate change and setting a path toward a world without nuclear weapons."

The Doomsday Clock came into being in 1947 as a way for atomic scientists to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons. That year, the Bulletin set the time at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolizing humanity's destruction. By 1949, it was at three minutes to midnight as the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated. In 1953, after the first test of the hydrogen bomb, the doomsday clock ticked to two minutes until midnight.

The Bulletin was at its most optimistic in 1991, when the Cold War thawed and the United States and Russia began cutting their arsenals. That year, the clock was set at 17 minutes to midnight.

From then until 2010, however, it was a gradual creep back toward destruction, as hopes of total nuclear disarmament vanished and threats of nuclear terrorism and climate change reared their heads. In 2010, the Bulletin found some hope in arms reduction treaties and international climate talks and bumped the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock back to six minutes from midnight from its previous post at five to midnight. But by 2012, the clock was pushed forward another minute.