More on the Two Pillars of St John Bosco

St John Bosco

I'm writing this article in response to some questions put forward by Joe Russo in the com-box on the post Pope Benedict XVI Assassination Plot in 2012?. The answer is a bit long and complicated, so I've decided to post it here in case it is of help to others as well: 

The questions that arise for me here are this... if the Pope were to be killed this year, then does that change your theory on him being the angelic Shepard? Also How long would this Second Pentecost last before the rise of Antichrist? Is this the era of peace referred to by Mary? If so this seems to be quite a short era.

As to the first, no it wouldn't necessarily rule out Pope Benedict from being the Angelic Pope if he was martyred in the very near future. It seems to me that the beginning of the Second Pentecost is intimately related to the martyrdom of the pope described in the Third Secret and various other prophecies. An event such as this would be the fulfilment of Fatima, and consequently be a great catalyst for the spread of Catholicism. As Tertullian said "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church". And the martyrdom of such a prominent figure which at the same time fulfils several prophecies has the potential to be very potent indeed.

So the lines between the Angelic Pope and the martyr-pope could be slightly blurred or overlapped. In fact some of the medieval prophecies of the Pastor Angelicus speak of a succession of Angelic Popes at the end-time (which I suppose then could theoretically include Bl John Paul II). But it appears that the fire of the Second Pentecost is ignited by the martyrdom of the pope, and Christian unity occurs during the pontificate of the succeeding pope.

If we look at St John Bosco's dream of the two pillars, after two gatherings have taken place (Vatican Councils I and II), the pope is struck and falls down gravely wounded.  Antonio Socci argues that this could be a prophecy of the assassination attempt on John Paul II (The Fourth Secret of Fatima pp54ff), which also seems to be related to the pope of Melanie's secret who the assailants shoot at but could not kill:

The pope will be persecuted from all sides, they will shoot at him, they will want to put him to death, but no one will be able to do it, the Vicar of God will triumph again this time.
(See the earlier post Our Lady of La Salette).

After this the pope is actually killed in the dream as a result of the attacks upon him - which could speak of the assassination of a successor to John Paul II. The dream tells us that a "breeze" comes from the two pillars (which I argue in the book is related to the "breath of life from God" being breathed into the Two Witnesses in Rev 11:11) restores the ship/Church from the devastation incurred by the attacks against it (by modern secular culture). The new pope then anchors the ship between the two pillars, and several small ships who fought for the pope are the first to come back (which could be the return of certain Eastern Catholic Churches - e.g. the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and some Greek Catholic Churches), and then the other ships who deserted  (the Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Churches) also return to the mother-ship and anchor themselves to the two pillars, after which is a great calm - which is the Second Pentecost/era of peace brought about by the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

But it appears that this era of peace will be short lived - it certainly won't be the millennial reign of Christ on earth - which is the ancient heresy of millennialism/chiliasm, condemned in the 4th century. The Second Pentecost/era of peace is brought about by the Two Witnesses, just as Elijah the Tishbite restored Israel from a state of apostasy in the 9th century BC. But the Book of Revelation tells us that the Witnesses who effect the Second Pentecost are in turn killed by the Beast/Antichrist (Rev 11:7) who rises from the abyss to gather the nations for the battle of Armageddon. This suggests that the Second Pentecost and rise to power of the Antichrist occur within the course of a single life-time. If its duration consists of the pontificate of a single pope, it would be a few decades at most.

I suggest in the earlier post The Fall of Rome - A Template of End-Time Events, that that the fall of "Babylon" and rise to power of the Antichrist will only occur after the Second Pentecost renews Christianity in the West. This follows the pattern of the fall of Imperial Rome - the original "whore of Babylon". The judgement that was set to befall the Roman Empire for its persecution of Christians was stayed until after its final conversion to Christianity.

But the links between  the Angelic Pope/martyr-pope prophecies and Benedict XVI is largely based on interpreting St Malachy's "Glory of the Olive" as referring to the two olive trees of Rev 11:4 (although the sequence of popes given in St. John Bosco's dream may also suggest this, if you separate the pope who is wounded from the pope who is killed, as Antonio Socci does). St Malachy's prophecy of the popes should  also be perhaps considered to be among the least authoritative of the prophecies I cite in the book, given the uncertainty of its provenance. So it isn't strictly necessary that Pope Benedict XVI will be the martyr-pope of prophecy who will bring about the Second Pentecost - but there seems to be a lot of connections linking him to these prophecies. This is merely one over-arching interpretation of the various martyr-pope prophecies - but it could be wrong, I don't know the future any more than you do. I'm simply trying to piece together the prophetic information at hand into a framework that makes sense to me - it doesn't mean I'm right.