Profiting From a False Prophet? The Strange Case of Kelly Bowring

By Tim Stuart

Dr. Kelly Bowring

Kelly Bowring lately of Cummins, Georgia, continues to launch marketing spiels for his books from his website. He is focused on writing about end times prophecy and how it relates to the Catholic Church. His latest attempt to sell his books was issued just a few days ago. Last year he told us that it was “plausible” that Pope Francis was the false prophet of the antichrist, based on the often ludicrous “prophecies” of one calling herself “Maria Divine Mercy” or, simply MDM.

Dr. Bowring wants us to take him seriously and often points out his academic credentials as well as his “mandatum” to teach theology. There is no question of his academic background, he is well-schooled and holds a doctorate in theology.

However, his claim to hold a “mandatum” to teach theology is problematic. In order to have a mandatum, you have to be employed as a theologian, and at this writing Dr. Bowring is unemployed; his sole occupation now appears to be the marketing of his doom saying books. Canon 812 of the 1983 code of canon law tells us that the mandatum is required for “those who teach”. As he no longer holds a teaching position, Dr. Bowring’s claim to possess a mandatum is tenuous at best. 

Dr. Bowring has spread the messages of MDM for some time now, as he believes one is allowed to do so, whether they are approved by Church authority or not. But unlike Kelly Bowring’s tentative description of Pope Francis as a “possible” or “plausible” false prophet, the messages of MDM state unambiguously that Pope Francis is an antipope and indeed the false prophet of the Antichrist! 

Now of course, we can point out to Dr. Bowring that anyone who wants to spread such revelations is in fact required by canon law to submit them first to his or her bishop. Dr. Bowring claims that since her bishop has not issued any directive on the subject, one is free to spread them. But this is not the position of the Catholic Church at all and MDM herself (also apparently known as Mary Carberry in her native Ireland) stated in an audio interview that her bishop had rejected her claims. 

With respect to the Church’s position the canons on prior censorship still govern here. Cardinal Ratzinger spelled out these concerns in 1996 when he said:

“A reminder, therefore, that for the diffusion of texts of presumed private revelations, the norm of the Code in force, Canon 823, para 1, which gives pastors the right "to demand that the writings of the faithful which touch faith or morals be submitted to their own judgment before publication," remains valid. 

Presumed supernatural revelations and writings which regard them are in the first instance subject to the judgment of the diocesan bishop and, in particular cases, to that of the Episcopal conference and the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.” (CDF Notification of Nov. 29, 1996. The full text may be read here.

And one would think Dr. Bowring is competent enough in moral theology to also realize that Pope Francis like any other individual is also entitled to his good name. And to spread such messages does grave harm to the good name of the pope and sets up even the possibility of encouraging schism at the very least. 

Bowring asks us to consider the “disconcerting actions and statements” of Pope Francis in the past year. Reading this, we expect to hear a review of just what those statements and actions are. But instead we get a long review of various supposed Catholic prophecies related to the end times without Dr. Bowring ever explaining how any of this “plausibly” or “possibly” relates to Pope Francis, who has not attempted to change so much as a single Catholic doctrine. It isn’t necessary to go point by point through this list as I can spot a few errors on a first reading. And if there are a few errors then the integrity of the whole article is called into question. 

Included in this list is one attributed to Pope Saint Pius X, in which Pius X sees a vision of a future pope “fleeing over the bodies of his brethren”. Unfortunately for Dr. Bowring’s case, there is no credible source for this supposed prophecy. It is simply spread around the World Wide Web without anyone citing an original source for it. Bowring relies heavily on the alleged prophecies of St. Malachy and his now well-known list of popes. But no serious scholar takes these prophecies seriously. They are at times highly inaccurate in fact and more than likely a forgery. (For more on the prophecies of St. Malachy see Dr. Donald Prudlo’s excellent article. 

The “revelations” of MDM also rely on this list as the messages tell us Pope Benedict is the last

true pope and “the keys of Rome are now being handed back to God the Father” (MDM message of June 6, 2011). We are running out of popes is the cry of Dr. Bowring as well as MDM. 

Dr. Bowring has insisted repeatedly that he is not able to find any doctrinal errors in the messages. Well, when you claim we are running out of popes and that the keys of Rome (aren’t they in fact the keys of St. Peter?) have gone to heaven, it should be very evident to someone familiar with Church teaching that this is a huge error. The First Vatican Council did more than simply define papal infallibility. It issued other dogmatic definitions which bind all Catholics. One of these dogmas is related to the perpetual character of the Roman primacy. It states: 

“Therefore if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema.” ( Vatican I, SESSION 4 : 18 July 1870, Chapter 2 of the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ) 

In short, we simply cannot run out of popes, Christ intended the primacy to endure until the end of time. It is therefore very erroneous for anyone to claim the “keys of Rome” have disappeared into the sky. 

Kelly Bowring gives MDM great credit for having allegedly prophesied the end of Pope Benedict’s pontificate. As he puts it:

“ONE-YEAR LATER TO THE VERY DAY of her reported prophecy, he surprised the world by announcing his retirement. The devil does not know the future! Her messages say Benedict would be secretly forced out, to which much evidence has been presented by those who have investigated it, though he himself also states that the resignation itself was done freely.” 

Let’s take a closer look at this. First, we might ask ourselves why Bowring did not favor us with an actual quote of the “prophecy”? Let’s leave that aside and just look at his statement here. “Secretly forced out”?? And this he seems to regard as reliable as “much evidence has been presented by those who have investigated it”. And just who has investigated it and presented us with such evidence? Bowring never lets us know, though he admits Pope Benedict himself says otherwise. So what else is he saying or could he be saying except that Pope Benedict is lying? 

Any reasonable Catholic would take the Pope’s statement at face value and let it go at that. This is a recurring problem with Bowring, he wants to have it both ways, and he wants to spread the messages of MDM all the while pretending he does not fully support them. But that’s quite like a Catholic priest going door to door with Jehovah’s Witness literature and advising people “I am not sure I really believe this but why don’t you read it?” In that instance I think the Catholics would be rightly scandalized whereas others would simply be confused. 

The MDM message he is referring to is that of February 11, 2012. Now Pope Benedict actually resigned on February 12, 2013 so it wasn’t exactly one year to the day as Bowring and MDM followers like to think. But was the prophecy in fact fulfilled? The prophecy said this: 

“Other world leaders will be killed soon, and My poor Holy Vicar, Pope Benedict XVI, will be ousted from the Holy See in Rome. Last year, my daughter, I told you of the plot, within the corridors of the Vatican. A plan to destroy My Holy Vicar was devised in secret on the 17th March, 2011, and this will come to fruition, for it has been foretold.” 

Well search as you will but no other world leaders have been killed since then, and we are now two years past the date of this prophecy. And “destroyed” is a pretty strong word and suggests Pope Benedict was to be murdered. Pope Benedict affirmed his resignation was voluntary and recently re-affirmed that so we can hardly call that “ousted”. And he has appeared several times in public with Pope Francis, which is very strange behavior if he thinks Pope Francis is an antipope. Indeed, it would be more than strange, as Benedict would be seen to support an antipope and that is more like a dereliction of duty. 

But there is a later message of MDM that Bowring does not call our attention to. And that is the message  of March 13, 2013 which says:"My beloved Pope Benedict XVI was persecuted and fled, as foretold." But he didn't flee; he just went to Castelgandolfo until the conclave was over and then returned. Those of us watching on TV saw Pope Benedict board a helicopter and leave the Vatican smiling and with an air of calm. Who “persecuted” him? No sign of that anywhere. 

So in what sense can Bowring (or anyone else for that matter) argue that these prophecies have been fulfilled?

Without reviewing his entire laundry list of quoted prophecies, let’s just take a look at one more. Bowring quotes Our Lady of La Salette as having said: “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the antichrist…” This is another “prophecy” that is idly copied and pasted around the web and I don’t doubt that Melanie Mathieu, one of the child seers of La Salette said it. But she said it some thirty years after the apparitions occurred, and Dr. Bowring fails to let his readers know this text was in fact condemned by the Holy Office in 1915. (1)

The actual secrets of La Salette have now been published and can be read at miraclehunter.com. That phrase which seems to imply the apostasy of the hierarchy in Rome does not appear in Melanie’s actual secret which she gave to her bishop in writing and before witnesses in 1851. (Those wishing to read the actual secret of Melanie Mathieu will find it at this link here.

So now we can conclude quite easily that Kelly Bowring is misrepresenting some facts, and I have not examined each of his points but only called attention to a few. Is he doing it deliberately in order to sell books or is this simply an instance of sloppy scholarship? I don’t know, I did point out these facts and more on his Facebook page but his only response was to delete my remarks without responding. Perhaps that speaks volumes all by itself. One of his former colleagues in teaching also posted a cautionary comment but that too was deleted. Incidentally, 

Bowring recently posted this on his Facebook page:

“In a recent interview with an Italian newspaper, Pope Emeritus Benedict said that liberation theology is a "falsification of the Christian faith". This is in direct opposition to the approach of current church leadership, which has embraced liberation theology.” 

To begin with Bowring is misquoting Pope Benedict. What he actually said was: “A falsification of the Christian faith needed to be opposed precisely for the sake of the poor and in favor of the service rendered to them.” That’s quite different. 

Father Gustavo Gutierrez

As Bowring presents it, the entire movement was considered false in the eyes of Rome. Has Pope Francis embraced liberation theology? And just where and when did this happen? Presumably he is referring to Pope Francis recent meeting with Father Gustavo Gutierrez, long considered the founder of liberation theology. Yet, Pope Francis issued no statement on the subject whatever. And Gutierrez was not in trouble with anyone in the Vatican under previous popes. 

When Cardinal Ratzinger investigated liberation theology he asked Father Gutierrez to rewrite certain portions of his works. And Father Gutierrez complied with this request. He has continued to teach and write since then without any restrictions from the Vatican. Questioned recently about his meeting with Cardinal Ratzinger, Father Gutierrez described it as “very good”. Ratzinger was more of a theologian. He understood better and that's been very important. 

I can honestly say that his understanding worked because he knew what it was about from the start," because he knew "it wasn't the idea of Marxism." Once again, we see that Dr. Bowring offers an observation that no facts will support. Is Dr. Bowring more driven by his own agenda to sell his books? Given the fact that the Facebook page of MDM has over 91,000 “likes” now it is not unreasonable to believe Dr. Bowring wishes to sell his books to some portion of those 91,000. They are his natural market. 

He has shown us that he is anything but a careful scholar. Sadly, he seems to have also forgotten some important principles of moral theology. 

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Notes

1. The text of La Salette that Bowring quotes from was condemned three times by the Holy Office between 1915 and 1923. The full details can be seen at this link: http://jloughnan.tripod.com/sal_decr.htm

Read also 'Concerning 'Maria Divine Mercy', Pope Francis, The False Prophet - and Dr Kelly Bowring