Catholic institutions distance themselves

One of the more closely watched events near Vatican City this week involves an invitation-only four-lecture series in Rome on the Antichrist by Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley tech billionaire. The lectures are scheduled from Sunday to Wednesday, according to event details seen by The Associated Press.

The series has sparked public distance from Catholic institutions that were initially associated with it. The Angelicum, formally the Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome, said in a statement that the event is not organized by the university, will not take place at the Angelicum, and is not part of any of its institutional initiatives.

The AP reported that word about alleged secret Antichrist lectures circulating in Italian media was part of why the Angelicum took its distance.

Who says they are involved

According to an announcement for the event seen by AP, the lectures are “jointly organized” by the Vincenzo Gioberti Cultural Association and the Cluny Institute at the Catholic University of America in Washington.

The Gioberti group confirmed it is involved. In its statement, the association said it believes in promoting research and encounters “based on the great tradition of classical and Christian thought,” and it said the heritage is fundamental to addressing what it described as a crisis engulfing the contemporary West.

The Catholic University of America, however, distanced itself. A CUA spokesperson told AP that the university is not sponsoring or hosting an event featuring Peter Thiel in Rome this month, and said the Cluny Project is an independent initiative incubated at the university.

The AP described the Cluny Institute as a new CUA initiative intended to bring together leaders from academia, religion and technology. AP also reported that in 2023 CUA hosted Thiel at its Washington campus for a talk on René Girard.

Thiel’s interests and a prior lecture blueprint

AP described Thiel as having an interest in the Antichrist and Armageddon—biblical concepts associated with opposition to Christ and a final battle between good and evil. It said Thiel discusses the concepts in terms of choices facing humanity in confronting existential risks.

The Rome lectures appear to follow the blueprint of a four-part lecture series Thiel gave in San Francisco last September, with invitations circulating in Rome copying the description of the San Francisco event. One invitation said Thiel’s remarks would be anchored on science and technology and would comment on the theology, history, literature and politics of the Antichrist, and it said religious thinkers he would draw upon include René Girard, Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, Carl Schmitt and John Henry Newman.

Thiel’s business and political ties

AP said Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir. It also said Palantir has been assisting the Trump administration’s migrant deportation crackdown, and it reported that Thiel was an early donor to the political career of Vice President JD Vance.

The story also laid out Thiel’s background: AP reported he co-founded PayPal in 1998 and that PayPal was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. After the sale, AP said Thiel founded the hedge fund Clarium Capital Management and helped launch Palantir Technologies.

AP further reported that Palantir recently inked an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to streamline the process of identifying and deporting people the agency is targeting.

It also described political ties around the White House, saying Thiel advised and donated to Donald Trump during his first administration and retained some connections since. AP reported that Palantir is among donors to the White House’s ballroom project and that David Sacks—who worked with Thiel at PayPal—is chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

AP reported that Thiel poured millions of dollars into Vance’s successful primary race for the U.S. Senate, and that Trump named Vance running mate and later vice president. It also said some observers see Thiel as a mentor to Vance.

The AP story also discussed Pope Leo XIV’s background, saying the Angelicum is known as the place where a young priest named Robert Prevost—now Pope Leo XIV—wrote his canon law doctoral thesis.

In addition, AP said that a few months before Prevost was elected pope, he shared an article from a Catholic publication on his now-dormant X account with the headline, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Finally, AP said Vance attended Leo XIV’s installation and later had an audience with him during which Vance delivered a letter from Trump inviting Leo to visit.