True personal growth ultimately will lead to fulfillment, and it's my intention with these podcasts to connect more deeply with you. Thank you for joining me, Anne Corbin and my guests and welcome to this episode. I well remember that day back in 2013 when I was in the car listening to Nothing in Particular and the news came on and my goodness, the Pope had resigned and that is something that popes just don't do. It's traditional for them to die in harness, so to speak.
And we all recall how ill and frail the previous pope, John Paul II, was when he finally passed, and indeed Pope Francis's health had been failing for some time before he eventually died. Now prior to Pope Benedict's stepping down, that was the pope who resigned in 2013, the last resignation was something like five hundred years previously. So this resignation was avidly discussed in all Catholic circles and publications.
And because I was raised Catholic and my mother was still a staunch Catholic and lots of her friends, there was a church community that I was very familiar with, it was a hot topic of conversation. To be honest, back then I hardly used the Internet and certainly not YouTube, I was aware of its existence but if there was much online speculation at the time, well it passed me by completely. Oh my goodness, how different everything is in 2025.
There are countless publications online and numerous articles there, not to mention hundreds of hours of fact and fiction on YouTube. And exactly how are we supposed to sort the wood from the trees? One video that I saw popped up about two days after the election of our new pope, Leo the fourteenth.
And this was done by conclave, you're probably aware of the procedures, and the YouTube article was written in the style of a reporter covering a story that had happened several months ago because this gave it weight and credibility. But with my knowledge background, I recognized certain pronouncements in that video that were complete rubbish, absolutely totally wrong and before I'd finished more than about twenty minutes of it, I decided the whole thing was a load of fantasy.
The facts are though that Pope Francis was a controversial figure and his very sudden and unexpected death after an apparent recovery in his health. The death was reported on Easter Monday and we'd all seen him looking relatively together the previous day, Easter Sunday, and quite frankly his sudden demise was indeed suspicious. And just recently, I came across a YouTube article entitled Vatican Nuns break their silence, the mysterious circumstances surrounding Pope Francis final days.
So I'm kind of summarizing it here in this podcast along with other information because it suggests that these Vatican Nuns had urged the faithful to come together in prayer to support the cardinals and the Holy Spirit as they made the critical decision about electing the new Pope, amongst other decisions.
This call for unity during such a pivotal time apparently hints again at a Vatican cover up and something that's been all the more intriguing with rumors suggesting that Pope Francis may still be alive and that he was being secretly held somewhere against his will when his death was announced, while a powerful faction of his enemies orchestrated their organized succession plan. So what really happened in those so called final hours of the last pope?
Well, on the morning of April 2025 of course, the world witnessed an extremely controversial end to Pope Francis's life. It was at around 05:30AM we're told that the first signs he was having a cerebral stroke emerged and the Vatican descended into what insiders have described as controlled chaos. Apparently, priests were caught in a clash of ideologies about just how he should be seen to die.
The conservatives wanted to transfer him to hospital thinking that it would allow them to present a more controlled narrative. However, I think everyone's aware now that Francis had always rejected the trappings of power. So his supporters felt that he should remain at Casa Santa Marta, which is a kind of an upmarket boarding house hostel where he had chosen to live apparently.
These people felt that his death should reflect his papacy, which was, to all intents and purposes, humble, simple, and focused on his closest and chosen companions rather than make it an institutional spectacle. Now you may be aware of the prophecies of Saint Malachy, who was an Irish cleric from the twelfth century, who foretold the existence of the rest of the popes who would lead the church in the future.
And he didn't name them, but he produced a crest or a saying in each case that would be linked with each pope that was elected. And over the centuries, the predicted descriptions were assessed as having been pretty accurate. But to me, and I've been aware of this prophecy since the mid seventies, maybe earlier than that, when John Paul the first was elected and died only thirty three days later.
This was I I have no idea of the significance thirty three in those days but it was a matter of great concern that we were running out of popes, kind of fast. So the total number of popes forecast by Saint Malachy was a 12 and Pope Francis was the hundred and twelfth pope. In other words, he was the last one according to the prophecy and there aren't supposed to be anymore.
So it begs the question, now that we've got our hundred and thirteenth pope, not in total, but since Malachy made his predictions since we now have Pope Leo, it begs the question: was Francis a real pope? Because he was elected to office while Benedict was still alive and you're not supposed to have two popes at the same time. Secondly, Francis was a Jesuit and tradition, priests of that order may not become popes.
And thirdly, Francis was never given the fisherman's ring, which is the very official ring that the pope wears. Benedict held onto it until he died. And Pope Francis rejected much of the luxury traditionally enjoyed by a pope. Everyone is aware now that he lived in this guesthouse rather than the papal apartments and we're told that this was by choice, but how would we ever know? So after Pope Francis's death was proclaimed, the controversies surrounding it multiplied.
His body was dressed in red vestments for his official lying in state and this was objected to by a number of people. We are told that traditionalists saw this as symbolic of martyrdom, but others have questioned how much it went against Francis' own preference for simplicity. The funeral itself was described as a stage for confrontation because the conservative faction pushed for a traditional ceremony, and the progressive factions wanted a celebration of his inclusive vision, quote unquote.
And in the end, they reached some kind of a compromise, which apparently didn't satisfy anybody. Well, the conclave which is in charge of voting for the successor pope, that was brought together within days of the death. That is traditional. But 80% of the cardinals who formed this conclave would have been appointed by Francis because he appointed a great many of them. So the election became a referendum on his papacy, it is said. Priests aligned with different factions lobbied.
There were a couple of predictions of who would make the most popular and most effective pope, but none of those names came to the fore when the election was actually made. We have an American, as I've mentioned in a podcast only a few weeks ago, the first American ever. And the question is, will he seek to undo the many, many reforms brought in by Pope Francis or will he continue with Francis' vision? Now this is interesting.
There were a 40 cardinals in the conclave and the official maximum allowed to vote is a 20. The same situation applied at the time of Pope Francis's election, adding to the argument that perhaps he wasn't a true pope because his election was, by Vatican standards, illegal. And maybe it can be said that Pope Leo, the current pope, has not been legally elected.
And again, something that I alluded to in that earlier podcast, there is speculation that Pope Francis, as well as that note, that he left behind a video and some personal recordings. Theories have circulated that the video might might reveal some shocking truths and some speculate that it could contain evidence of extraterrestrial contact or indeed of historical Vatican secrets. Much of this, of course, is speculation and we don't know who comes up with all these theories.
There is more talk about financial corruption within the church, but that's been going on. I mean, the the discussions, the knowledge of that has been going on for years. Apparently, Francis pushed for a great deal of reform in this area. But what deep secrets might he have uncovered? Pope Francis had well publicized connections with the World Economic Forum.
He was known to hold very controversial and progressive, quote unquote, views on issues such as LGBTQ rights and climate change and the coming together of all faiths. What else might he have been intending to push ahead with women's ordination, changes on the rules surrounding clerical celibacy, or other doctrinal shifts that were never fully addressed.
It's very well known that Pope Francis faced strong opposition from within his own church because his views were considered by many to be not just progressive, but outrageous. And Cardinal Raymond Burke, in particular, even accused him of heresy, creating a very public division that was hard to ignore. And believe me, I don't follow this stuff closely, but I just I I hold a passing interest for anything that's controversial really.
So what happens during the reign of the new pope will be very interesting. All those conspiracies and tensions surrounding Pope Francis' final days may never reveal the shocking revelations that some people expect. But they have laid very bare a number of deep fractures within the church. And Pope Leo is going to have to address them. So just whether the church is going to evolve and embrace reform or whether it will revert to its more traditional stands and viewpoints, only time will tell.
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