Nostradamus has spoken again. And if his verses are to be believed, 2025 could be the year the world truly unravels.
Michel de Nostredame (1503–1566) was a French astrologer whose cryptic predictions still rattle the internet centuries later.
Dubbed the “Prophet of Doom,” his name trends every time a crisis looms, and this year is no exception. A mix of eerie forecasts from plague, heavenly fire, and the death of Pope Francis has reignited the frenzy.
These verses are making the rounds once more, with believers pointing to Nostradamus as the man who foresaw events like the rise of Adolf Hitler, the French Revolution, the invention of the Atomic Bomb, the 9/11 attacks, and the assassination of JFK.
The panic is real, but let’s find out how much of it is actually rooted in his writings.
The “Very Old Pontiff”
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Each year, Nostradamus stirs up fresh anxiety with his cryptic predictions, but none hit quite as hard as his eerie foresight about Pope Francis’s death at 88 (via Daily Mail).
The seer predicted a transition in papal leadership: “Through the death of a very old Pontiff / A Roman of good age will be elected / Of him it will be said that he weakens his see / But long will he sit and in biting activity.”
After Pope Francis faced ongoing respiratory issues, his death on April 21, 2025 seemed to echo those lines almost too closely (per France 24).
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“Through the death of a very old Pontiff / A Roman of good age will be elected / Of him it will be said that he weakens his see / But long will he sit and in biting activity,” Nostradamus wrote.
While some past Popes have been retrofitted to this same verse, it is now grimly evident that Nostradamus was explicitly talking about our 21st-century Pope Francis.
Even after his death, Pope Francis, who led the Roman Catholic Church for over a decade, is still a hot topic of discussion among those who admired his rule-breaking mindset.
His widely shared quotes, ideas, and lessons following his demise demonstrate the viral fascination with papal mortality.
The Rising Specter of Global Conflict
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Global tensions in 2025 have reached a boiling point, and many are linking the turmoil to one of Nostradamus’s more ominous warnings: “great powers will clash” (per The Standard).
The Council on Foreign Relations declared this year “potentially the most dangerous” since the launch of the Preventive Priorities Survey nearly two decades ago.
The report paints a grim picture: intensifying violence in Ukraine, Middle East flare-ups, military pressure from China in the Taiwan Strait, and the rising threat of cyberattacks and domestic instability in the US.
Another of Nostradamus’s predictions, a decline in Western dominance and the rise of new global powers, mirrors today’s shifting geopolitical landscape.
His verses tend to resurface whenever the world feels on edge, sometimes loosely applied to events like the Ukraine war. One frequently cited line reads: “Seven months great war, people dead through evil,” which some linked to 2022’s invasion (via New York Post).
Meanwhile, the chaos is worsened by the global crisis of misinformation and disinformation, pushing the world closer to the doomsday outlines in Nostradamus’s darkest verses.
Plague Returns
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Nostradamus once warned, “The ancient plague will be worse than enemies,” and in 2025, that line is resurfacing with fresh urgency (Daily Mail).
A new COVID strain, HKU5-CoV-2, is spreading across China, alarming scientists with its high fatality rate, nearly one-third of those infected. The timing, eerie as it is, has triggered speculation that Nostradamus’s “ancient plague” might be rearing its head again.
According to Geographical, there is a reason to believe he wasn’t just referencing new viruses, but also the return of history’s deadliest pandemic: the Black Death. That fear has even prompted researchers at Oxford and AstraZeneca to begin developing a plague vaccine (via GB News).
Whether metaphor or foresight, Nostradamus’s vague warnings echo through health headlines. Will it be COVID’s resurgence, the Black Death’s return, or an entirely new contagion that fulfills his prophecy?
Fire from the Sky: Asteroids, Solar Flares, or Something Else?
A series of cosmic disasters might be looming in 2025.
A fiery omen from above is one of Nostradamus’s most unsettling prophecies, and in 2025, talk of asteroids and solar flares has given it new life.
“From the cosmos, a fireball will rise, A harbinger of fate, the world pleads,” he wrote. “Science and fate in a cosmic dance, The fate of the Earth, a second chance” (per New York Post).
Some think he foresaw a cataclysmic asteroid. Others say solar flares. And a few believe it’s something science hasn’t named yet. Whatever the case, fears of a cosmic disaster are making the rounds again.
There’s no credible evidence pointing to an imminent planetary collision, but that hasn’t stopped speculation from spreading online. From sensational headlines to AI-generated apocalyptic visuals, the internet is doing what it does best: stirring up fear with digital flames.
Earthquakes, Storms, and Nature’s Wrath
With an ongoing climate crisis fueling catastrophic storms, floods, and quakes, many are pointing back to Nostradamus’s verses, such as “the dry Earth will become more parched and there will be great floods” and “in the depths of Asia one will say the earth trembles.”
The World Meteorological Organization warns that extreme weather will likely persist or worsen in the coming years, reinforcing fears that Nostradamus saw this all coming.
His name resurfaces with every natural disaster, and 2025 has delivered plenty. When a powerful earthquake off Northern California triggered tsunami warnings last year, social media erupted with prophetic callbacks.
“Nostradamus predicted that California, New York, and the East Coast all the way to Florida would have serious problems,” one commenter wrote. “I wouldn’t joke about CA drifting away. It may not be as unreasonable as people think.”
Economic Collapse and the Fall of Fortunes
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Nostradamus’s bleak economic predictions are once again turning heads in 2025. Though he never named names, some believe he alluded to a Trump-era market collapse (per The Economic Times).
His writings about financial collapse, mass unemployment, and social unrest have taken on renewed meaning as inflation and instability surge worldwide.
One cryptic line, “coin leather,” has been linked to everything from inflation and currency devaluation to the rise of cryptocurrency (per The Economic Times).
Then there’s the blunt warning: “The rich shall die many times over, and a new order will rise from the ruins” (per Live India). The line hits especially hard in a world already bracing for a downturn.
With JPMorgan putting the odds of a recession at 60%, even skeptics are beginning to wonder if Nostradamus got this one right, too (via Money/ US News).
End of the World (Again)
“The worst is yet to come,” warned Brazilian psychic Athos Salomé, one of several modern mystics predicting the end of humanity in 2025 (per The New York Post).
Apocalyptic visions aren’t new, but multiple seers are claiming it’s our final year this year. Baba Vanga, dubbed the “Nostradamus of the Balkans,” foretold a deadly European war marking the start of humanity’s downfall.
Centuries ago, Nostradamus echoed this fear: “When those from the lands of Europe, see England set up her throne behind. Her flanks, there will be cruel wars. The kingdom will be marked by wars so cruel, foes from within and without will arise.”
He also warned, “A great pestilence from the past returns, no enemy more deadly under the skies.”
Adding to the doom chorus, London hypnotherapist Nicolas Aujula predicted terrifying violence “in the name of religion and nationalism.” At the same time, Salomé warned of a looming machine-driven war, something beyond human scale.
Salomé, credited with foreseeing major world events like Queen Elizabeth’s death, believes World War III is imminent, but this time, fought not just by soldiers, but by machines. “This isn’t just a war of men, but of machines, and in this aspect, what comes next?” he asked.
Still, it wouldn’t be the first time Nostradamus’s world-ending prophecy fizzled. His most infamous forecast remains unfulfilled, resurfacing every few years to stir panic, then passing without incident.
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