Peter Thiel’s secret lectures on Antichrist in Rome spark debate

Source Domain: nz.news.yahoo.com

Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and MAGA donor, is in Rome this week for a series of private lectures on the Antichrist. It’s an event that the Vatican, and the pope, are treating with caution.

Thiel’s talks are closed to the media and taking place at an undisclosed location. An invitation, seen by the Associated Press, says the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies will focus on the Antichrist, a figure in Christian teaching who comes to oppose Jesus Christ before the Second Coming.

A car reportedly carrying Peter Thiel arrives at Palazzo Taverna in Rome on Monday. – Stefanelli/LaPresse/Shutterstock

But the appearance of Thiel on the Vatican’s doorstep has raised eyebrows, given the tensions between Thiel’s thinking and that of Pope Leo XIV. Two Catholic institutions have distanced themselves from the lecture series, which continues through Wednesday.

Thiel has previously written and lectured on the subject, arguing that the Antichrist is not necessarily a person but could come as a global government system. It would take control, he has argued, by exploiting people’s fears around artificial intelligence, climate change or nuclear war.

Pope Leo XIV meets with US Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance at the Vatican on May 19, 2025. – Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media/Reuters

He also has reportedly expressed concern in past lectures that Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert whose early career he supported, might become “too close to the pope.” Those remarks reflect anxiety, shared by parts of the Trump coalition, about the papacy’s global reach and independent moral authority. Thiel prefers a more nationalist, technologically oriented vision, while the pope and the Holy See have repeatedly called for the strengthening of global institutions such as the United Nations.

So far, two Catholic institutions have distanced themselves from Thiel’s Rome lectures. The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also…

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