In 1139 St. Malachy went from Ireland  to Rome to give an account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope, Innocent II.   While at Rome, he received a vision of the future that involved a long list of  pontiffs who were to rule the Church “until the end of time”.   Malachy is supposed to have given a written account of all this to the Pope, but the document remained unknown in the Roman Archives until its discovery in 1590 (Cucherat, “Proph. de la succession des papes”, ch. xv).

The last of the prophecies concerns the end of the world and is as follows: “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, 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.”  It has been noticed concerning Petrus Romanus, who according to  Malachy’s list is to be the last pope, that the prophecy does not say that no popes will intervene between him and his predecessor designated Gloria olivæ. It merely says that he is to be the last, so that we may suppose as many popes as we please before “Peter the Roman”.

Adapted from the Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 edition).  see

http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp

Catholic Pages opines that ” The present pope is truly a burning fire of zeal (sic) for the restoration of all things to Christ.   So he cannot be “Peter the Roman”.  Can he?

The question is, will there be a Catholic Church still in existence when Peter the Roman finally appears?