Adrian Weckler

Well, Dr. Massimo Fagioli is professor in ecclesiology at the Loyola Institute at Trinity College, Dublin.

Originally from Italy, he's worked extensively in the US and has written multiple books and essays about Catholicism.

He's currently writing another one on the history of the Roman Curia and the Vatican.

Massimo, before I ask you about what the Antichrist is, a quick reminder for our listeners and viewers.

that Peter Thiel is a Silicon Valley billionaire best known for co-founding PayPal in the late 1990s.

That was sold to eBay in 2002.

He's also associated with links to Tesla, LinkedIn, YouTube, because he's part of this PayPal mafia.

He was an early investor in Facebook.

He turned $500,000 of an investment into over a $1 billion return.

And of course, he co-founded Palantir Technologies, which at the moment,

is focused on government and intelligence software, very, very big in the defense industry.

He was also a major backer of, he was the first serious tech Silicon Valley backer of Donald Trump in 2016.

So, but for the last...

Last year or so, he has been giving a series of lectures on what he sees as the dangers or his thoughts about the Antichrist.

Can you summarize for us what the usual definition of the Antichrist in Christian or Catholic theology is, and then maybe how Peter Thiel might be interpreting it?

Yes.

And just from what I have gleaned from the substance of how he thinks about the Antichrist, his core thesis seems to be something along the lines that it may not be an individual figure, but it may be a system, like it could be something...

a system that promises, that seems to be good or pleasing, that would stop climate catastrophe or would stop nuclear war, but that would then enforce a one-world government or political structure and limit freedom in the name of safety.

And he's kind of pushing, he's named figures like Greta Thunberg or Bill Gates variously, not as the Antichrist, but in the same kind of ballpark way

of the threat he is talking about.