MAGA billionaire Peter Thiel has angered the Vatican by hosting a four–part lecture series in Rome warning that the Antichrist is coming and will subject humanity to a ‘one–world’ government.
Thiel, 58, has raised concerns for months about what he views as an imminent threat, according to The New York Times.
The tycoon, who made his money by setting up PayPal, has warned of the ‘occult forces [that] are ceaselessly at work, intent on destroying what remains of the West,’ the outlet reported.
The Antichrist is described in the Bible as a conniving figure who opposes Jesus Christ and seeks to challenge human allegiance to God.
Thiel, the chairman of big data and artificial intelligence giant Palantir, has argued the Antichrist will manipulate humanity by promising solutions to contemporary existential threats.
He has earmarked topics like AI, environmental crises and bioweapons as pathways to that outcome.
But rather than a single person, Thiel has suggested the Antichrist could take the shape of a centralized global government that gradually strips away individual rights and freedoms.
Thiel’s secretive conference, titled ‘The Biblical Antichrist’, began Sunday and is slated to run until Wednesday.
Thiel’s views were described as ‘a theological–apocalyptic framework as disturbing as it is structured’ by Italian Catholic priest Paolo Benanti, who previously advised Pope Francis on AI.
In an essay titled ‘American heresy: Should we burn Peter Thiel?’, Benanti argued that Thiel’s views about the Antichrist amounted to ‘heresy.’
‘In other words: either a global technocratic regime imposing salvation by falsehood, or total annihilation,’ he wrote about Thiel’s views.
A newspaper owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, Avvenire, called Thiel ‘the heart of darkness of the digital world.’
Another essay in the publication accused Thiel of seeking ‘absolute power managed by technocrats supported by artificial intelligence, without which, he argues, the state will never function.’
About one hundred guests have been spotted at the lecture series, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Most appeared to be Italian businessmen and politicians.
The talks’ audience has largely been made up of younger men, plus some women and a number of American priests and students.
Thiel spoke for about two hours on the first day of the seminar and touched on the future of AI.
‘It’s not the solution to all evils,’ he was quoted as saying by the outlet. ‘But it shouldn’t be demonized.’
Hellbound and Down 