One set of invitation-only lectures on the Antichrist drew attention last week as Vatican-adjacent institutions publicly distanced themselves from the event, with Catholic universities saying they were not behind it and will not host it on their campuses. The talks are scheduled in Rome from Sunday to Wednesday and were described as controversial, according to an Associated Press report citing statements and event information.
The Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University, the Dominican university in Rome commonly referred to as the Angelicum, issued a statement saying that the event is “not organized by the University, will not take place at the Angelicum, and is not part of any of our institutional initiatives.” The university said it wanted to clarify its position after reports circulated in Italian media about what were described as alleged secret lectures on the Antichrist by Thiel at the pope’s alma mater.
A separate announcement for the event that the Associated Press said it reviewed described the lectures as “jointly organized” by an Italian group, the Vincenzo Gioberti Cultural Association, and the Cluny Institute at the Catholic University of America in Washington. The Gioberti association confirmed involvement, and in a statement said it believed in promoting research and encounters “based on the great tradition of classical and Christian thought,” adding that it views that heritage as fundamental to addressing “the crisis engulfing the contemporary West.”
The Catholic University of America, however, said it was not participating in sponsoring or hosting the Rome talks. “The Catholic University of America is not sponsoring or hosting an event featuring Peter Thiel this month in Rome,” a university spokesperson told the Associated Press. The spokesperson said the Cluny Project is an independent initiative incubated at the university.
Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, has been described in the Associated Press report as having long-standing interest in the Antichrist and Armageddon concepts drawn from Christian scripture, which he has discussed in terms of choices and existential risk. The report cited a remark attributed to Thiel, including a passage in which he mused about Christians debating the prophecies “for millennia,” asking who the Antichrist was, when he would arrive, and what he would preach.
The Rome program appears to resemble a four-part series Thiel delivered in San Francisco last September, according to the Associated Press report. One invitation circulating in Rome copied a description of the earlier talks, saying his remarks would be anchored on science and technology and would comment on theology, history, literature and politics of the Antichrist, while religious thinkers he would draw on included René Girard, Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, Carl Schmitt and John Henry Newman.
The report also traced why Thiel’s appearance in Rome may have become particularly sensitive inside Catholic institutions: the Angelicum has historical ties to the current pope, with Associated Press reporting that a young priest named Robert Prevost—now Pope Leo XIV—wrote his canon law doctoral thesis there. It also noted the recent involvement of Pope Leo XIV and its institutional environment in wider political controversy around U.S. figures, including J.D. Vance.
Thiel has been described as having ties to the Trump administration, with Palantir also cited in the report as having an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aimed at streamlining identification and deportation processes for people the agency is targeting. The Associated Press report further said Thiel advised and donated to Donald Trump earlier and has retained ties to the White House, and it said David Sacks, who worked with Thiel at PayPal, is chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
In the Vatican’s backyard, the controversy has therefore become a question less about the theology discussed than about who is responsible for putting Thiel in the room. As universities and institutions clarified their lack of sponsorship or hosting, the organizers behind the series maintained that their programming is grounded in classical and Christian thought and presented as separate from institutional involvement claims.