I'm not one for prophecies myself, but the way the world is going, there just might be something to it.
I understand where you're coming from! In hindsight, we'll know whether the prophecies we're considering apply to the current situation. I'd be very unhappy if we lost Pope Benedict any time soon :-).
The way I look at it, Christians have *always* thought the End was coming Any Day Now ... and so far, it's always been wrong. On one hand, you should live as if each day was your last ('cause You're Gonna Die, as we said in the life insurance business :-), and on the other hand, eventually it's going to be the real end of the world, but ... It never seems to come before my mortgage payment is due!