Fr. Heimerl: Pope Francis marks the fulfillment of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich’s ‘dark church’ prophecy

According to German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, the ‘after-church’ will not be a counter-church or a schismatic church, but the Catholic Church itself because it is increasingly distancing itself from Christ.

Pope Francis during his weekly general audience, February 2022Mazur/cbcew.org.uk/Flickr

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Fr. Joachim Heimerl

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on September 19, 2024. LifeSite has decided to republish it for the one-year anniversary of Pope Francis’ death, which occurred on April 21, 2025. We continue to pray for his soul and for his successor, Leo XIV.

The following essay is the first in a two-part series on the prophecies of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the ‘synodal church,’ and Pope Francis. Part two can be found HERE.

(LifeSiteNews) — Two hundred years ago, the German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich died in Dülmen, Westphalia. The stigmatized nun saw not only the life of Jesus in her visions, but also the future of the Church. Shortly before her death, she said: “There will be an after-church.”

During Emmerich’s time, such a thing was hardly imaginable, and what would an “after-church” be on top of that? I admit: I wondered about that as well, at least until with Pope Francis the “synodal church” emerged and, with it, a rapid decline.

But one thing at a time: What do Francis, the “synodal church,” and Blessed Anne Catherine have to do with each other?

The key lies in an amendment made by Emmerich, in which she spoke of a “dark church.” By this, she meant a church in which the light of Christ is extinguished. Accordingly, the “after-church” will not be a counter-church or a schismatic church, nor a Protestant “church” like the “church” of the Anglicans or Lutherans. Instead, the Catholic Church itself will be this “post-church” because it is increasingly distancing itself from Christ.

This is where Francis comes into play, who has openly contradicted his predecessors and – at least in part – even Christ Himself. Cardinal George Pell has, therefore, rightly called Francis’ pontificate a “disaster,” one could also say: a pontificate that does not correspond to the will of Christ.

More: https://x.com/shiningsweu/status/2046882570969776401?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w