Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88 on the Monday following Easter Sunday, April 21, 2025. Thus, we can already put a tick next to Francis’ name concerning the identity of the False Prophet in the Book of Revelation. I have sometimes advanced the idea in my blog that Francis could possibly fulfill the identity of the second beast or false prophet in the Book of Revelation, who acts as a sort of “John the Baptist of the Antichrist,” preparing the way for his rise to power and who “exercises all the authority of the first beast [i.e., the Antichrist] in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.” (Rev. 13:12)

However, I had often said, that the idea that Francis would be a false prophet is more speculative, and there is no corresponding biblical requirement for identifying the false prophet, unlike what the Bible justifies for identifying the Antichrist before the rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4:17-5:2, 2 Thess. 2:1-3). Of course, all our speculation about the future is more or less guesswork, as none of us possesses a crystal ball that accurately reveals what the future holds. This also applies to my speculations regarding King Charles’ role as the Bible’s final Antichrist. Not merely as one Antichrist among many, for according to the Bible, there would be multiple false prophets and Antichrists.

 For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. – Matthew 24:24

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. – 1 John 2:18

However, we can also base our guesses about the future on probability calculations regarding what is more likely and what is less likely. By these measures, “Charles as the Antichrist” has scored significantly higher points than, for example, “Francis as the false prophet.” This is mainly because the Bible does not provide very detailed information about who that final false prophet should be, and therefore identifying his identity remains more or less in the realm of guesswork.

The only identification details about the false prophet’s identity can be found in the Book of Revelation, whereas prophecies about the Antichrist are scattered throughout the Old and New Testaments, from which we can build a clearer overall picture of where this person is to arise, what his social status is, how he behaves, speaks, acts, etc. The Book of Revelation describes the false prophet only in these terms:

 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people. And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. – Revelation 13:11-18

In the later Revelation, this second beast is also referred to as the false prophet (Rev. 16:13, 19:20, 20:10). Thus, the second beast cannot be some kingdom or superpower like the United States, as this vision is interpreted by historists such as Seventh-day Adventists (in this interpretation, “fire from heaven” refers to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, etc.). It would be somewhat strange to characterize a kingdom or nation with the title of a prophet. The most common interpretation (especially among Protestants) has been that the false prophet would be the Pope of Rome. In my opinion, this has been the most plausible viewpoint, as it aligns best with the internal symbolism of Revelation. For example, this vision describes Jesus Christ in this way:

And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth… And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:5-6, 9

If the false prophet also appeared like a lamb with two horns but spoke like a dragon (Satan), this refers to his position as a gentle priestly ruler resembling Christ, the high priest of His Church (Heb. 4:14). The seven horns and seven eyes of the slain Lamb symbolize in the vision those seven churches that the Lamb governs in heaven as their high priest. Similarly, this lamb speaking with the mouth of the dragon should refer to some outwardly gentle pastoral leader who pretends to be the high priest of the Christian Churches but speaks like the deceiving serpent of Paradise.

The fact that he also uses all the power of the first beast, to which “authority was given over all tribes and peoples and languages and nations” (v. 7), indicates that he should be in a very influential position. He should be able to unite especially all the religions of the world, including the non-religious people, for he “makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.” Thus, the false prophet should not only be a leader of one world church but the leader of one world religion. Pope Francis was already working to establish this role for himself.

Pope Francis was very unpopular among traditionalists and conservatives within the Catholic Church, who did not even recognize him as a legitimate pope due to his liberal church policies and globalist ideas. He more frequently promoted Europe’s leftist open-border immigration policy and neo-pagan climate worship than the true saving gospel of Jesus. He resembled the Roman Catholic version of the current head of the Anglican Church, Charles III, who worships the earth goddess Gaia, that requires human sacrifices, as famous Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson noted correctly in his recent interview.

Pope Francis was also a universalist who taught that all religions lead to God, contrary to the teachings of Jesus, who said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

This statement in itself made Francis a false prophet, for Jesus said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way broad that leads to destruction, and many there be that enter in by it; but the gate is strait and the way narrow that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:13-16) So false prophets preach a “broad way gospel” that there are many ways to heaven, which does not require a personal confession of our sins and kneeling under the cross of Calvary. But Francis was a false prophet, not the False Prophet who will bring the world to worship the Antichrist.

It remains to be seen whether the next pope will lead the Church of Rome back to a more conservative line, or if Francis merely serves as a kind of forerunner for his successor, who would adopt an even more anti-Christian stance in the leadership of the Church. Thus, Francis’s role was to soften the attitudes of the Catholic world to the point where they would ultimately accept this final tempter more easily, who would betray the Church and lead it into the arms of the Antichrist. However, if Francis is followed by someone who takes a complete U-turn from his predecessor’s liberal values and church politics, it is unlikely that the coming pope will be the false prophet mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

An interesting plot twist in this spectacle is also brought by the so-called Prophecy of Saint Malachy regarding the popes, which states that Francis would have been the last pope on the list during whose reign Rome was meant to perish amid the great persecution of Christians. I have often brought this prophecy up in connection with Francis as additional confirmation that he might be the last pope of Rome before Jesus returns to earth. Another separate prophecy related to the popes was directly from the 7th chapter of the Book of Daniel, which many Protestants from the 1500s to the 1800s often associated with the papacy and presented various interpretations of when the 1260 years of papal authority, referred to in Daniel’s prophecy as “a time, times, and half a time,” would come to an end. Isaac Newton also supported this interpretation and calculated the end year of papal authority to be 2060 AD.

I justified this historicist interpretation of biblical texts (mainly regarding Daniel chapters 7 and 8) in three eschatological books I published in 2014, 2019, and 2022. In those works, I also presented my own calculations for the year of the vision’s conclusion, initially arriving at the year 2016 and then at 2023. I was mistaken in both of those calculations, as they would have required the destruction of the Vatican City or the end of the papal temporal power either in 2016 or 2023. In December 2023, I presented again a new calculation based on the same vision, concluding that the years 2040-41 would be the conclusion of the vision, which also coincided with Martin Luther’s calculated “end of the world” year. If the next pope were to take office relatively young, he could very well still be in office by 2040.

In the case of Francis, that would have been quite improbable, as in 2040 he would have already been 104 years old. As for the prophecy of St. Malachy, I asked an AI about it in more detail today. You can read the discussion here. I will summarize the key points of the discussion. The origin of St. Malachy’s prophecy goes back to the 1590s in a work published by the Benedictine monk Arnold de Wyon titled Lignum Vitae. Many serious scholars and the Catholic Church itself have considered the prophecy a forgery, as it was attributed to Malachy, an Irish bishop who lived in the 12th century, despite the list of popes being published only 400 years after Malachy’s death.

The list mentions 112 popes, of which the description of the first 74 fits well up to Celestinus II, who ruled in 1143–1144 and is the first pope on the list. However, the descriptions of the remaining 38 are vague and difficult to correlate with popes after the 1590s. Yet, this list does indeed connect the pope who resigned in 2013, Benedict XVI, with the last numbered pope on the list, the 111th pope, referred to in the prophecy as Gloria Olivae. The last pope of the prophecy is not numbered, but is called “Petrus Romanus” (“Peter the Roman”). During his reign: “the city that sits on seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrifying judge will judge his people.” The city founded on seven hills refers, of course, to Rome itself.

Since Rome did not fall during the reign of Pope Francis, the most natural conclusion here is that the entire prophecy was false, as the official researchers of the Catholic Church have already said. However, if we wish to maintain the prophecy as genuine, it is also possible to interpret it in such a way that Francis is not yet the last pope, as the last pope is not numbered as the 112th popes but is mentioned as a sort of epilogue that follows the reign of the last 111th pope. And since Benedict XVI resigned in a very unusual manner – stepping down before his death, which had not happened since the late Middle Ages – and held the title of “pope emeritus” until his death in December 2022, it could be argued that Benedict XVI was the last legitimate pope of the vision, whose office ended only with his death (some Catholic conspiracy theorists have even speculated that he ruled secretly behind the scenes after his resignation).

Thus, the last pope of the vision may be someone who is chosen for the office after Benedict XVI’s death – not his resignation. So Peter the Roman would still be waiting for his selection in the shadows of the curtains. The Malachy’s prophecy does not define whether the last pope is a good or bad pope. From a classic Protestant perspective, the concept of a “good pope” likely does not even exist, so it’s safer to think of him as a bad pope. Perhaps he is indeed the pope who also fulfills the role of the false prophet in the Book of Revelation. Whatever the case, it would be quite surprising if the next pope decided to choose the name Peter in honor of the church’s “first pope” (as taught by the Catholic Church). Perhaps he could also be the first pope since Pope Clement VII to crown a European ruler named Charles as Emperor of Rome and Europe.

The last time this happened was in 1530 when Clement VII crowned Charles I of Spain, a contemporary of Martin Luther, as Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V ruled during the 16th century over the most powerful empire of the time, which included a large part of continental Europe as well as most of North and South America. Five years from now this event would mark 500th anniversary. Brendan Simms, a professor of the history of international relations in Europe at the University of Cambridge, seriously suggested after Charles’s ascension that he should also be crowned by the Pope as Charles VIII, the Emperor of Europe, in the footsteps of the papally crowned rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. Such a development I have been predicting on my blog for about 10 years.