Epstein-linked US mogul lectures on Antichrist on Vatican doorstep

US-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.

The invitation-only conference, which began on Sunday and runs through Wednesday, is taking place at a secret location near the Vatican.

The content of the lectures – closed to the media and under tight security – is unclear, but is expected to focus on Thiel’s theory that the biblical Antichrist may appear not as a malevolent figure, but as “a reassuring actor” and heroic administrator aiming to manage technological risks.

This figure, in Thiel’s telling, will use existential fears, like AI, climate change, and nuclear war, to convince the world to unite under a single centralized government.

According to Fortune, Thiel’s vision essentially “blends theological language with Silicon Valley’s anxieties over AI, transhumanism, and decay of meaning.” CNN also noted that the billionaire believes the Antichrist might come “not necessarily as a person but… as a global government system.”

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 – alma mater of Pope Leo XIV – the institution denied any links to it.

Avvenire, a Milan-based newspaper owned by a conference of Italian bishops, published an article stating “Peter Thiel does not believe humanity can be redeemed,” arguing that his vision favors an elite “superplutocracy” that would “monitor and protect humanity from the arrival of the Antichrist.”

Thiel – whose company Palantir holds extensive Pentagon contracts – has been scrutinized due to his long-time ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to German outlet Spiegel’s tally, the two exchanged hundreds of e-mails between 2014 and 2019.

Epstein also referred to Thiel as his “great friend” and invested $40 million into Valar Ventures fund, co-founded by Thiel. Epstein also repeatedly invited Thiel to his notorious island, although the latter’s spokesperson denied he had ever accepted.

Epstein’s 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’s former Prince Andrew, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and numerous other powerful figures.

Thiel has denied any wrongdoing or personal knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, admitting he “didn’t ask enough questions about” his past when they first met in 2014.