Well yeah , anything could ' ve happened . The backstory of the mod is vague like that . However , it ' s more likely just a neat little reference and a window into the mythology of the setting . There having been a pope called Petrus Romanus who saw the destruction of Rome might be a historical fact that people in the 2660 s still remember , a misunderstood myth that later generations mistakenly took as a fact , or an intentional fabrication by the St . Louis based Papacy to bolster its position as the successor to Old Rome . I personally like to believe myths survive better than actual history , and that centuries after the full list of popes was lost the idea of a disasterous pope called Petrus Romanus survived , and people in the postapocalyptic world chose to interpret the vague prophecy as something that clearly must have happened since the world was in such a sorry state .