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<\/picture><\/div>\nUS-German billionaire Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, is holding a controversial series of lectures on the Antichrist in Rome this week, prompting criticism from Vatican-linked officials and institutions, according to multiple media reports. Thiel continues to face scrutiny over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
The invitation-only conference, which began on Sunday and runs through Wednesday, is taking place at a secret location near the Vatican.<\/p>\n
The content of the lectures \u2013 closed to the media and under tight security \u2013 is unclear, but is expected to focus on Thiel\u2019s theory that the biblical Antichrist may appear not as a malevolent figure, but as\u00a0\u201ca reassuring actor\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and heroic administrator aiming to manage technological risks.<\/p>\n This figure, in Thiel\u2019s telling, will use existential fears, like AI, climate change, and nuclear war, to convince the world to unite under a single centralized government.<\/p>\n According to Fortune, Thiel\u2019s vision essentially\u00a0\u201cblends theological language with Silicon Valley\u2019s anxieties over AI, transhumanism, and decay of meaning.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0CNN also noted that the billionaire believes the Antichrist might come\u00a0\u201cnot necessarily as a person but\u2026 as a global government system.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Vatican-linked institutions have sought to distance themselves from the billionaire. While initial media reports claimed that the event would be held in the Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University \u2013 alma mater of Pope Leo XIV \u2013 the institution denied any links to it.<\/p>\n Avvenire, a Milan-based newspaper owned by a conference of Italian bishops, published an article stating\u00a0\u201cPeter Thiel does not believe humanity can be redeemed,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0arguing that his vision favors an elite\u00a0\u201csuperplutocracy\u201d<\/em>\u00a0that would\u00a0\u201cmonitor and protect humanity from the arrival of the Antichrist.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Thiel \u2013 whose company Palantir holds extensive Pentagon contracts \u2013 has been scrutinized due to his long-time ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to German outlet Spiegel\u2019s tally, the two exchanged hundreds of e-mails between 2014 and 2019.<\/p>\n Epstein also referred to Thiel as his\u00a0\u201cgreat friend\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and invested $40 million into Valar Ventures fund, co-founded by Thiel. Epstein also repeatedly invited Thiel to his notorious island, although the latter\u2019s spokesperson denied he had ever accepted.<\/p>\n Epstein\u2019s death in a New York jail in 2019 was ruled a suicide but has spawned conspiracy theories that he had been murdered to prevent testimony on his links with the American establishment. In particular, Epstein had proven connections to Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Britain\u2019s former Prince Andrew, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and numerous other powerful figures.<\/p>\n Thiel has denied any wrongdoing or personal knowledge of Epstein\u2019s crimes, admitting he\u00a0\u201cdidn\u2019t ask enough questions about\u201d<\/em>\u00a0his past when they first met in 2014.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n