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Arriving in Rome - like it or not it is still the centre of Christianity - and lecturing on the Antichrist may at least seem eccentric, even if the city has always digested everything. But Peter Thiel has a fortune of 30 billion dollars, estimated by default, and is one of the main inspirers of Trumpism, not only technological, but deeply ideological, Maga in purity. In short, when he makes a move, he makes a noise, especially now in times of war, a conflict, the one against Iran, which is fully in Thiel's ideological wheelhouse. From today until Wednesday in Rome, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, the data mining company that has collaborated with the Trump administration in its campaign for the expulsion of migrants, and that has risen on the stock exchange by 500% in less than five years (he has 3% but controls it) will explain to a selected and mysterious audience what the Antichrist is for him.
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Perhaps there are those who think that he will also be in Rome to do some good business in the field of defence, mixing the sacred (?) and the profane is a transversal speciality throughout the world, but which in Trumpism has reached unthinkable peaks.
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[Thiel's] invitation-only conference, which runs until Wednesday, is not open to the press and its venue has not been publicly disclosed, as per Reuters. Organisers quoted in the media say participants are drawn from academia, technology and religious circles.
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A co-founder of Palantir Technologies, an AI software company with deep ties to the U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, Thiel has in recent years devoted increasing attention to religious and philosophical ideas.
Last year he held a similar series of talks in San Francisco exploring the possibility that the Antichrist - a figure who opposes or denies Christ - could emerge on the global stage.
In particular, Thiel has said he is wary that an Antichrist will emerge who will create a one-world government on the promise of something like stopping nuclear, AI or climate-induced disaster.
Thiel, 58, grew up in an Evangelical Christian family and has said Christianity shapes his worldview.
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Father Paolo Benanti, who advises the pope on artificial intelligence, wrote in an essay published on Saturday that Thiel operated as a "political theologian" within Silicon Valley.
"Thiel's entire action can... be read as a prolonged act of heresy against the liberal consensus: a challenge to the very foundations of civil coexistence, which he now considers outdated," Benanti wrote on Le Grand Continent website.
The piece was headlined: "American heresy: should Peter Thiel be burned at the stake?"
A newspaper owned by the Italian bishops' conference, L'Avvenire, also published a series of articles this past week that were highly critical of Thiel.
One article warned that technology leaders should not be allowed to define their own ethical limits, arguing that governments had to defend democratic oversight of digital platforms and resist the spread of disinformation.
Thiel retains close ties with figures in Washington, including Vice President JD Vance, himself a Catholic convert. Thiel's appearance in Rome follows a string of visits to Italy by prominent figures linked to the U.S. conservative movement, including Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, and Vance himself.
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The linked reports name a range of thinkers from whom Peter will draw inspiration, including René Girard, Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, Carl Schmitt, and John Henry Newman. This may be true, but Thiel's allegedly most important and very early inspiration comes from Ayn Rand, a 20th century Russian immigrant to the US, whose philospophy strongly resonates with with many other tech moguls in Silicon Valley.
Interestingly and a bit contrary to Thiel's speeches, Rand rejected faith and religion at all, as well as state interventionism. She supported a sort of laissez-faire system based individual rights, notably private property rights. Today, Rand is often associated with the libertarian movement in the U.S.