Alarm! Pope will die within 12 months, a senior Vatican figure has claimed

Alarm! The Pope will die within the next 12 months, a senior Vatican figure has reportedly claimed amid fears of an assassination plot.

Source: Dateline Zero

Cardinal Paolo Romeo, the archbishop of Palermo in Sicily, reportedly made the startling prediction of the Pope’s death during a trip to China in November 2011. Thus, according to Cardinal Romeo, Pope Benedict XVI will be with us only about another 9 months.

It could be that the good Cardinal was predicting the Pope’s rapidly failing health. Recall that late last year, the aging Pope had begun having difficulties. The most visible example of the Pope’s declining health came in October of that year — mere weeks before the Cardinal’s comments in China — when photos showed the Pope using a moving platform to carry him to the alter at St. Peter’s. The last time such a platform had been used was when Pope John Paul II’s health began to decline.

However, he seemed so sure of the fact that the Pope would die within a year that the people he spoke with, including Italian businessmen and Chinese representatives of the Catholic Church, were convinced that Cardinal Romeo was talking about an assassination attempt.

According to The Guardian, these people became alarmed at the cardinal’s words and reported the “news” of an assassination attempt back to the Vatican.

From there, the comments were written up in a top-secret report, dated Dec 30, 2011, and delivered to the Pope by a senior cardinal, Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a Colombian, in January of 2012.

The report to the Pope was written in German, apparently to limit the number of people within the Vatican who would understand it if it was inadvertently leaked. It warns of a “Mordkomplott” – death plot – against Benedict.

Obviously, conspiracy theorists are going to be making a note of this, in case the Pope actually does die this year.

Here’s something interesting. During the trip to China, Cardinal Romeo didn’t only predict that the Pope would die within 12 months, but he also predicted the Pope’s replacement: Cardinal Scola (pictured). If this were a conspiracy, is Cardinal Romeo in on it?

Nick Squires, writing at The Telegraph, reported: “Experts said the release of the document could be part of a power struggle within the Vatican administration to try and force Bertone to leave.”

“Cardinal Romeo said Benedict viewed Cardinal Scola as his ideal successor,” Mr. Squires continues, “because they had similar personalities and theological outlooks. Cardinal Scola was previously the Patriarch of Venice, but was promoted to the archbishopric of Milan by Benedict in June last year.” 

More: Full post at Dateline Zero