!? 'Cardinal Siri Thesis' - 'Pope in Red' (Late 1980s -to present day.)



ERRONEOUS THESIS that is NOW USED BY A HERETICAL 'Trad' CULT  for a MONEYMAKING SCAM falsely operating as a Traditional Catholic organisation.

The 'Cardinal Siri Thesis' is a conspiracy theory first proposed in the late 1980s by an American named Gary Giuffre, which over the years became combined with several misinterpretations of prophecies and used as a money-making ploy by scammers.


Giuffre proposed that Cardinal Siri (1906-1989) was elected pope in the 1958 conclave, took the name 'Gregory XVII', but was forced to resign due to pressure coming from outside threats i.e the Freemasons and / or agents from the Communist Soviet Union, thereafter he was supposedly held captive in a monastery in Rome.  This strange proposal of events is used to explain the unexpected switch from white to black smoke issuing from the Sistine Chapel during the 1958 conclave.


A money-making scam was then set up by some individuals who ran with Gary Giuffre's theory and claimed that  Cardinal Siri must be the 'Pope in Red'  thanks to his striking cardinal's cassock in order to try and tie him in with the prophecy made by Bl. Catherine Emmerick in that she saw a pope dressed in red which she hoped would come.  It is believed it is the Angelic Pontiff she saw, click here.

The 'Thesis' is then expanded by these so-called Trad Catholics to include an anonymous 'hidden successor' said to have been selected by cardinals faithful to Siri and who took the name 'Gregory XVIII' after Siri died in 1989. (Or, the story follows similar lines.)  Adherents of the 'Siri Thesis' claim this anonymous hidden successor whom nobdy has seen is the true pope-and even the Angelic Pontiff of prophecy.

One of the main scammers using this 'Thesis' and is posing as a 'Traditional Catholic' is a man from Vietnam claiming to be a priest "Rev. Fr. Khoat Van Tran".   According to this article by T. Stanfill Benns in  'Bretrayed Catholics' there is no proof of his ordination, that he was in fact a businessman, and he had a wife! Also, Benns met him personally, and, Van Tran admitted he wanted to found a 'Catholic Secret Society'.   Click here to see the article.    

A 'secret' society?  That's what the Masons do.  Sounds more like a cult leader than a Catholic priest.

"Our Lady's Resistance" site also has some interesting information - pictures of a businessman named "Van Tran", that looks exactly like the "priest" 'Kohan Van Tran' but with the name reversed, possibly to hide his identity. - Click here.  Of interest, Van Tran himself claims he:

" ... is both a doctor of Oriental Medicine and a Catholic priest. Rev. Tran holds three Ph.D. degrees, one in Theology, one in Philosophy, and one in Oriental Medicine. Rev. Tran always remains a priest, while also championing the economic and trade endeavours that he foresees can bring America, Vietnam, and Switzerland together for the financial betterment of the poor everywhere." (Click for Source).

"Championing economic trade?" With America and Switzerland?  Sounds rather cushy.  And, he is dressed in a business suit at the top of his bio.  Does that sounds like a Traditional Catholic priest? 

The claims of him being a businessman seem correct.


What is worse, there are other websites other than his own promoting the "Cardinal Siri / Pope in Red Thesis" and asking for money to support the 'underground church' and the 'hidden pope'.   Traditional Catholics are getting duped and falling for this money-making scam.

Even if you are not yet convinced that "Fr. Van Tran" is a fake - the Siri Thesis itself falls apart when put under the light, showing that this is a complete nonsensical invention.
Yes, prophecies do indicate Freemasonry and other demonic infiltrators will indeed play a considerable diabolical part in the persecution upon the Church.  There are no doubts about that, especially after studying the 'Alta Vendita' documents, but the 'Cardinal Siri Thesis' is nothing more that what it has been called - a 'thesis' - aka: "a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved".

*** Here are the major flaws with the thesis:

First of all, to be pope, Cardinal Siri would have had to have been officially invested with the pallium as Bishop of Rome at the Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran  - according to Tradition, no pallium, no pope.  It is the pallium that makes the pope, not the tiara, which even the Romans understand.  They won't accept a new pope as the legitimate pontiff until he is invested with the pallium.  The prophecies all point to a legitimate pope having to go into exile, and Siri was never invested as pope.

Second, as you can see from the Prophecy Timeline alone, (click here) the 'Cardinal Siri' thesis is now disproved just by the weight of other prophecies fulfilling over time.


The Church will enter its greatest difficulties and be faced with at least one anti-pope when a pope is 'made powerless' and 'prevented from preaching'.  This powerless pope will have white hair and a letter 'B' in his name according to the collection of creditable prophecies on the Timeline. Cardinal Siri doesn't fit that description of the prophecy regarding the letter 'B', while Pope Benedict XVI does considering his resignation in 2013 and the controversy surrounding Pope Francis at the moment.

Not to mention, the suffering pope that is foretold to flee and go into exile will have to go over the dead bodies of his brethren / priests according to the prophecy attributed to St. Pius X, click here - meaning the revolution that will force the pope into exile will indeed be a literal one with wars and riots, fighting in the streets and churches looted and destroyed as the prophecies have foretold.  It is not a 'spiritual revolution' that will happen in Rome as the 'Siri Thesis' adherents claim, which they state was the Vatican II conclave.  Rome was not attacked physically during Vatican II.   Also, the bloody genocidal Communist or Socialist civil war in France is supposed to happen first.  None of these events happened during Cardinal Siri's lifetime, he didn't flee over dead bodies, and we haven't seen the devastation of Paris and France yet.  

Also, the 'Siri Thesis' does not fit in with St. Malachies prophecies - St. Malachy listed every ANTIPOPE as well as every legitimate pope  before the destruction of the 'seven-hilled' city.  If we add Siri, or him and his supposed successor - the prophecies are completely thrown off - there are no prophecies listed for them as popes or antipopes.  See the Chart below and the end of the page.

Third, Cardinal Siri wasn't a prisoner either-he was appointed president of the Italian Episcopal Conference by Pope John in 1959, and remained in the post under Pope Paul until 1964.  He was a candidate for pope in the 1978 conclave that followed the death of Paul VI, where he is thought to have led in the early ballot, but the conclave eventually elected Albino Luciani as Pope John Paul I, and again two months later in the October 1978 conclave, where he is also thought to have come within a few votes of election before the eventual election of Pope John Paul II. 

 Note the Cardinal himself debunked any claims he was made pope.

To conclude, the 'thesis' is lacking creditable proof to sustain it.

 So, whoever this anonymous hidden "Gregory XVIII", he is running a money-making cult based on the 'Cardinal Siri Thesis'.  He could be one of the two anti-popes the mystic Marie-Julie Jahenny foretold would come just before or about Rome's ruin that will happen just before the coming chastisements, or, as stated above, just a fraud scamming money off of unsuspecting Catholics desperate to find and support the True Faith in these desperate times.

Please DO NOT support any 'Cardinal Siri Thesis' or  'Pope in Red' sites that are promoting 'Gergory XVII' or 'Gregory XVIII' -it's all a scam.




Chart of St. Malachy's prophecies - The 'Siri Thesis' does not fit in at all.




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