Malachy's Peter the Roman: Msgr. Pietro Parolin?

[bkj]

Is Monsignor Pietro Parolin, an official with the Vatican's Roman Curia, destined to be Saint Malachy's prophesied "Petrus Romanus"?

The following might present what is to be the future fulfillment of St. Malachy's prophecy concerning "Peter the Roman."

It is lifted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes ...

"Because no number is assigned to Petrus Romanus (Malachy's 112th "pope"), it is possible that (Peter the Roman) may take on the role of the Pope without putting on the robe of the Pope. Under this possible scenario, a catastrophe at the Vatican (perhaps a terrorist attack) could wipe out the top leadership of the Church during either a consistory or a conclave of the College of Cardinals. As a result, with no viable College surviving to elect a new pontiff, this particular scenario would have a surviving official of the Roman Curia succeeding to the top leadership of the Church but not as Pope. Since he would not rise to the Papacy itself but instead would become, in effect, the top caretaker of the Church, he would not need to assume a new papal name such as Peter; thus he would keep the name he has had since his birth in Italy, and that name already would be Peter (or, in Italian, Pietro). Currently (that is, as of March 2006) there is only one such candidate for Petrus Romanus (or Peter the Roman) within the Roman Curia. His name is Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Under-Secretary of State for Relations with States, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 2002 to serve under Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo. A native of Schiavon, Italy, Monsignor Parolin was born in January 1955."

The speculation above seems at least worthy of consideration given:

--Pope Benedict XVI's recent consistory at the Vatican (on 3-24-06). --The expectation that the new pontiff also will hold more consistories in the future. --The expectation that Benedict is about to streamline the Roman Curia (including forcing Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals, to retire sometime in April). --The new pontiff's desire to reach out to the Muslim world. --The recent bombing by Muslim extremists of a 1,200-year-old mosque's dome in Iraq. --The fact that in 2,000 years no newly-elected Pope has ever had the nerve to take the name of Peter (making it unlikely that there will ever be a Pope Peter II but more likely that Peter the Roman will be a non-Pope who acts as caretaker of the Church).

[dangus]

Interesting call that Pietro is now Secretary of State, often thought of as #2 in the Vatican hierarchy.

Sure, Pope Francis seems to completely debunk Malachy, since he succeeds “The Glory of the Olives.” But what it the glory of the olives is that after being cut off, Benedict is grafted back onto the tree, and returns as Pope?

Truthfully, Peter the Roman is an invention centuries more recent than the already silly Prophecies of four-centuries-after Malachy. But I’m like a cat with a ball of yarn when it comes to conspiracy theories, prophecies, etc.