NYT. The billionaire Peter Thiel is unimpressed with our pace of innovation. In this episode, he critiques artificial intelligence, longevity science and space travel — and warns that our lack of progress could lead to catastrophic outcomes, including the emergence of the Antichrist.
Does Thiel understand the theological significance of the Man of Perdition to come (Thessalonians 2)? In part yes, in larger part no.
Thomist Joseph Pieper on the Pseudo-Order and World Dominion of the AntiChrist.
The famous Thomist, Joseph Pieper, wrote in 1954:
“Once, and as soon as, world dominion in the full sense has become possible, the Antichrist has become possible. To this corresponds the other coordinate fact that the Christian gospel must have reached the totality of the peoples of the earth, who have been rendered accessible to it politically: “This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Mt 24:15)—-which is not construed by theology to mean that the Christian religion will spread in triumph over the whole earth but that the decision for or against christ will become possible (or urgent) over the whole globe.
“…The establishment of a World State, which is today (1954) well within the bounds of historical possibility, may quite possibly come to be looked upon as a legitimate goal of political endeavor. What the doctrine does state is that once this step has been taken, mankind will find itself in a condition in which the Dominion of the Antichrist has become more acutely possible than ever before: “a world organization might become the most deadly and impregnable of tyrannies, the final establishment of the reign of anti-Christ”
“…the World State of the Antichrist will be in the extreme sense a totalitarian State. …a World Empire which, per definitionem, is devoid of neighbors and thereby unexpectedly conforms to the political islands of the Utopias…it will leave no place to which one might emigrate…the End will be characterized by one single governmental structure equipped with prodigious power, which, however, fails to establish any genuine order. At the end of history there will be a pseudo-order maintained in being by the exercise of power.” (pp. 127f.)
—From The End of Time by Joseph Pieper, Ignatius Press
So there we very possibly are, or one day will be, be it near or still a ways off. It should not inspire fatalism, but perseverance in Charity. People are made in the Image of God, “a little lower than the angels” (not ‘evolving’ beasts per the grand narrative-myth of Darwinism) must not be mesmerized to sleep in front of their propaganda machine, the TV, or computers, all “signs and wonders” unknown to previous generations.
Whatever the future, it will be the Christian’s task to “confess the faith” (Rom 10:10), both uplifting the good and exposing / shunning evil, in the face of IT, one way or another; above all we cling to Truth (Jn 14:6; 8:32) as Christ, the Way the Truth and the Life, clung to the Father when sentence was passed on Him by the powers of this world.
What follows is not an ancient document but was written by the great Pope-Saint, St. Pius X, not long, hardly 50 years before I was born, almost to the day. Who can deny that moral implosions, ominous geopolitical developments and technological signs and wonders seem to be aligning to this end in our time, to climax at some point in a great Paroxysm we know not when… One need not be a traditional Catholic or high tech wizard to see this—a simple reading of the New Testament and the times will do.
History is not a zen-garden, but shows a Cross, which affirmed the reality of both good and evil, defeating spiritual death and hopelessness; and which will one day restore all things in Christ in whom all Christians, not fatalistically but full of good works towards all, remain steadfast until then, regardless of any and all confusing signals even from within the Church. – SH
Pope St. Pius X on the Antichristic
All emphasis below is mine. Pope St. Pius X wrote:
5. When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity (1903) may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the world the “Son of Perdition” of whom the Apostle speaks (II. Thess. ii., 3). Such, in truth, is the audacity and the wrath employed everywhere in persecuting religion, in combating the dogmas of the faith, in brazen effort to uproot and destroy all relations between man and the Divinity! While, on the other hand, and this according to the same apostle is the distinguishing mark of Antichrist, man has with infinite temerity put himself in the place of God, raising himself above all that is called God; in such wise that although he cannot utterly extinguish in himself all knowledge of God, he has contemned God’s majesty and, as it were, made of the universe a temple wherein he himself is to be adored. “He sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God” (II. Thess. ii., 2).
6. Verily no one of sound mind can doubt the issue of this contest between man and the Most High. Man, abusing his liberty, can violate the right and the majesty of the Creator of the Universe; but the victory will ever be with God – nay, defeat is at hand at the moment when man, under the delusion of his triumph, rises up with most audacity. Of this we are assured in the holy books by God Himself. Unmindful, as it were, of His strength and greatness, He “overlooks the sins of men” (Wisd. xi., 24), but swiftly, after these apparent retreats, “awaked like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine” (Ps. 1xxvii., 65), “He shall break the heads of his enemies” (Ps. 1xxvii., 22), that all may know “that God is the king of all the earth” (Ib. 1xvi, 8), “that the Gentiles may know themselves to be men”(Ib. ix., 20)…
7….The desire for peace is certainly harbored in every breast, and there is no one who does not ardently invoke it. But to want peace without God is an absurdity, seeing that where God is absent thence too justice flies, and when justice is taken away it is vain to cherish the hope of peace. “Peace is the work of justice” (Is. xxii., 17). There are many, We are well aware, who, in their yearning for peace, that is for the tranquillity of order, band themselves into societies and parties, which they style parties of order. Hope and labor lost. For there is but one party of order capable of restoring peace in the midst of all this turmoil, and that is the party of God. It is this party, therefore, that we must advance, and to it attract as many as possible, if we are really urged by the love of peace.
9. Now the way to reach Christ is not hard to find: it is the Church. Rightly does Chrysostom inculcate: “The Church is thy hope, the Church is thy salvation, the Church is thy refuge.” (Hom. de capto Euthropio, n. 6.) It was for this that Christ founded it, gaining it at the price of His blood, and made it the depositary of His doctrine and His laws, bestowing upon it at the same time an inexhaustible treasury of graces for the sanctification and salvation of men. You see, then, Venerable Brethren, the duty that has been imposed alike upon Us and upon you of bringing back to the discipline of the Church human society, now estranged from the wisdom of Christ; the Church will then subject it to Christ, and Christ to God.
If We, through the goodness of God Himself, bring this task to a happy issue, We shall be rejoiced to see evil giving place to good, and hear, for our gladness, ” a loud voice from heaven saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ.” (Apoc. xii., 10.)
“But if our desire to obtain this is to be fulfilled, we must use every means and exert all our energy to bring about the utter disappearance of the enormous and detestable wickedness, so characteristic of our time – the substitution of man for God; this done, it remains to restore to their ancient place of honor the most holy laws and counsels of the gospel; to proclaim aloud the truths taught by the Church, and her teachings on the sanctity of marriage, on the education and discipline of youth, on the possession and use of property, the duties that men owe to those who rule the State; and lastly to restore equilibrium between the different classes of society according to Christian precept and custom. This is what We, in submitting Ourselves to the manifestations of the Divine will, purpose to aim at during Our Pontificate, and We will use all our industry to attain it. It is for you, Venerable Brethren, to second Our efforts by your holiness, knowledge and experience and above all by your zeal for the glory of God, with no other aim than that Christ may be formed in all….” —E SUPREMI, Pope Pius X, October 4, 1903
Hilaire Belloc: “We call paganism an absence of the Christian revelation. That is why we distinguish between paganism and the different heresies…Paganism once erected into a system, once having taken on full shape, and proceeding to positive action, must necessarily become a formidable and increasingly direct opponent of the Catholic Church. The two cannot live together, for the points upon which they would agree are not the points which either thinks essential”
Catholic Critique 