42. The Antichrist Popes

For over a thousand years, reformers and revolutionaries have identified papal authority with the biblical Antichrist. From medieval monks to Protestant reformers to modern conspiracy theorists, critics have found in corrupt popes the fulfillment of apocalyptic prophecies about ultimate evil.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Calarogu Shark Media, October thirty first, fifteen seventeen. When Martin
Luther nailed his ninety five theses to the Wittenberg Church door,
he was challenging more than papal financial practices. Within three years,

(00:24):
he would make an accusation that would echo through Protestant
Christianity for centuries. The pope was not merely corrupt or misguided,
but was actually the Antichrist prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
This was not hyperbole or rhetorical excess. Luther genuinely believed
that the papal office represented the man of sin described

(00:46):
in Saint Paul's letters, the false religious leader who would
deceive Christians and persecute the faithful before Christ's second coming.
For Luther and millions of Protestants who followed him, the
pope was not just wrong about theology, he was the
embodiment of ultimate evil. Yet Luther was neither the first
nor the last to identify papal authority with the biblical Antichrist.

(01:12):
Throughout Church history, reformers, mystics, and revolutionaries have pointed to
the papal throne as the seat of prophesied evil from
medieval monks to modern conspiracy theorists. Critics have found in
corrupt or tyrannical popes, the fulfillment of apocalyptic prophecies about
false messiahs, and religious deception. The identification of the papacy

(01:35):
with the Antichrist has persisted for over a thousand years,
adapting to changing historical circumstances while maintaining its essential claim
that papal authority represents a Satanic counterfeit of true Christian leadership. Today,
we examine the dark history of papal demonisation, when the
successor of Saint Peter became the successor of Satan in

(01:58):
the minds of those who saw in papal park power
the ultimate corruption of Christian truth. This is White Smoke,
Episode forty two, the Antichrist popes. The biblical foundation for
identifying the papacy with the Antichrist rested primarily on two
New Testament passages that described a future religious deceiver who

(02:21):
would claim divine authority while leading Christians astray. Second, Thessalonians
spoke of a man of sin who would exalt himself
above God and sit in the temple claiming to be divine,
while the Book of Revelation described a beast that would
receive worship from all the earth and persecute the saints.
Early Christian interpreters had applied these prophecies to Roman emperors

(02:44):
who persecuted the Church, but as the empire converted to
Christianity and persecution ended, new applications became necessary. The papal office,
with its claims to supreme spiritual authority and its involvement
in temporal affairs, provided an obvious target for those seeking
contemporary fulfillment of ancient prophecies. The first systematic identification of

(03:09):
the papacy with the Antichrist emerged during the Medieval reform
movements of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when monks and
intellectuals began criticizing papal involvement in secular politics and the
accumulation of wealth and power by church hierarchy. Joachim of Fiore,
a twelfth century Cistercian abbot, developed elaborate theories about the

(03:30):
end times that identified the institutional church with the apocalyptic beast.
His followers would apply his prophetic framework to specific popes,
finding in papal actions confirmation of their belief that the
end of the world was approaching. Through ecclesiastical corruption. The
most dramatic medieval application of Antichrist prophecy to papal authority

(03:53):
came from the Spiritual Franciscans, radical followers of Saint Francis
who believed that the institutional Church should betray the gospel
message of apostolic poverty. When Pope John the twenty second
condemned their teachings and persecuted their leaders, they identified him
as the Antichrist prophesied to appear before Christ's return. Peter

(04:15):
John Olivey, the intellectual leader of the Spiritual Franciscans, developed
detailed arguments that the papal office represented the mystical Antichrist
described in Revelation. According to a. Livy, the pope's claims
to supreme spiritual authority fulfilled biblical prophecies about a religious
leader who would deceive many while persecuting true believers. The

(04:39):
identification of John the twenty second with the Antichrist was
not merely theological speculation, but had practical consequences for Franciscan
resistance to papal authority. If the pope was indeed the
prophesied enemy of Christ, then obedience to papal commands became
not merely unnecessary, but positively sinful. The execution of spiritual

(05:02):
Franciscan leaders by papal authorities provided martyrs whose suffering seemed
to confirm prophetic expectations about antichrist persecution of the faithful.
The pope who killed those who identified him as Antichrist
appeared to be fulfilling the very prophecies that his victims
had proclaimed. The Great Western Schism of the fourteenth and

(05:22):
fifteenth centuries provided new ammunition for those who identified papal
authority with Antichrist prophecy. The spectacle of multiple men simultaneously
claiming papal authority while excommunicating each other seemed to confirm
that the papal office had become a source of deception
rather than truth. Reformers during the schism period argued that

(05:45):
the multiplication of papal claimants proved the satanic character of
papal authority itself. If genuine papal authority derived from Christ,
it could not be divided among competing claimants. The fact
that multiple popes could exist simultaneously demonstrated that all papal
claims were false and demonic. The Council of Constance's deposition

(06:08):
of three competing papal claimants was interpreted by some observers
as divine judgment against the antichrist papacy. The humiliation of
papal authority through conciliar action seemed to fulfill prophecies about
the eventual defeat of the man of sin through divine intervention.
Yet the restoration of papal unity under Martin the Fifth

(06:30):
disappointed those who had expected the schism to herald the
end of papal authority entirely. The resilience of the papal
office in the face of apparent divine judgment led some
critics to conclude that papal power was even more satanic
and dangerous than they had previously believed. The Protestant Reformation

(06:56):
transformed anti papal antichrist theory from a minority persis held
by radical reformers into a mainstream Protestant doctrine accepted by
major churches throughout Northern Europe. Luther's identification of the pope
as Antichrist became orthodox Protestant teaching that would persist for centuries.
Luther's mature position on papal authority was uncompromising in its

(07:19):
identification of the papacy with ultimate evil. In his Treatise
against the Roman Papacy An Institution of the Devil, Luther
argued that the papal office was not merely corrupt, but
was actually created by Satan to destroy true Christianity from
within the church itself. The systematic development of Protestant Antichrist

(07:41):
theory by theologians like John Calvin and Heinrich Bullinger provided
detailed biblical exegesis supporting the identification of papal authority with
prophesied evil. These scholars argued that papal claims to supremacy
over temporal rulers fulfilled prophecies about a religious leader who
would exalt himself above earthly authorities. The English Reformation added

(08:05):
nationalistic elements to Protestant antichrist theory, as English theologians identified
papal authority with foreign domination as well as religious deception.
The pope became both the spiritual Antichrist and the political
enemy of English independence, making opposition to papal authority simultaneously
religious and patriotic duty. The Westminster Confession of Faith, adopted

(08:30):
by Presbyterian churches in sixteen forty six, formerly declared that
the Pope of Rome is that Antichrist, that man of
sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the
Church against Christ and all that is called God. This
confession made anti papal Antichrist theory a requirement for Presbyterian ordination.

(08:53):
The persistence of Protestant Antichrist theory created permanent hostility between
Protestant and Catholic communities. The sus influenced European politics for centuries.
Wars between Protestant and Catholic powers could be understood as
cosmic conflicts between Christ and Antichrist, rather than merely political
disputes over territory or dynasty. The identification of specific popes

(09:17):
with the Antichrist intensified during periods of Catholic counter Reformation activity,
when papal policies seemed to confirm Protestant expectations about Antichrist
persecution of true believers. The Roman Inquisition and the Index
of Prohibited Books provided evidence that the papacy was indeed
systematically attacking authentic Christianity. Pope Pious the Fifth's excommunication of

(09:42):
Queen Elizabeth First in fifteen seventy was interpreted by English
Protestants as confirmation that the papal Antichrist was attempting to
destroy Protestant Christianity through political manipulation. The papal bull that
deposed Elizabeth seemed to fulfill prophecies about as Antichrist attempts
to control earthly rulers. The Gunpowder plot of sixteen oh five,

(10:05):
in which Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up the English Parliament,
was seen by English Protestants as typical anti christ strategy,
using violence and deception to destroy legitimate government and impose
papal tyranny. The discovery of the plot seemed to confirm
that papal authority operated through satanic methods. American Protestant colonists

(10:28):
brought anti papal Antichrist theory to the New World, where
it influenced both religious development and political culture. The absence
of established Catholic populations in most American colonies allowed Protestant
Antichrist theory to develop without significant Catholic opposition or modification.
The French Revolution's attack on the Catholic Church was interpreted

(10:51):
by some Protestant observers as divine judgment against the Antichrist papacy.
The imprisonment of Pope pious and the sus systematic destruction
of church property seemed to fulfill prophecies about divine punishment
of the man of sin. Yet, Napoleon's concordate with the
Catholic Church and the restoration of papal authority disappointed those

(11:13):
who had expected the Revolution to destroy the papacy permanently.
The resilience of papal institutions in the face of revolutionary
attack led some Protestant theorists to conclude that the papal
Antichrist possessed supernatural power that could only be defeated through
direct divine intervention. The nineteenth century saw the development of

(11:35):
new forms of anti papal Antichrist theory that incorporated contemporary
political and social developments. The papal condemnation of liberal political
principles in the Syllabus of Errors was interpreted as evidence
that the antichrist papacy opposed human progress and democratic government.
The declaration of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council

(11:59):
in eighteen seventy provided new evidence for Protestant Antichrist theorists,
who argued that papal claims to doctrinal infallibility fulfilled prophecies
about a religious leader who would claim divine prerogatives. The Pope,
who declared himself incapable of error, seemed to fulfill biblical
descriptions of the man of sin who exalts himself above God.

(12:22):
Modern conspiracy theories about papal involvement in global governance represent
contemporary versions of traditional Antichrist theory adapted to current political anxieties.
The Vatican's diplomatic relations with world governments and its involvement
in international affairs were interpreted by some observers as evidence
of continuing Antichrist attempts to control world politics. The election

(12:47):
of Pope Francis, with his emphasis on social justice and
environmental concerns, has generated new forms of conservative Protestant criticism
that identify his agenda with apocalyptic discentption. Some fundamentalist interpreters
argue that Francis represents a false prophet who will prepare
the way for the final Antichrist through seemingly benevolent policies

(13:10):
that actually advance satanic objectives. The persistence of anti papal
Antichrist theory across five centuries of religious and political change
demonstrates the enduring power of apocalyptic thinking to provide frameworks
for understanding contemporary conflicts. Each generation of critics has found
in papal authority confirmation of their expectations about prophesied evil

(13:35):
and divine judgment. Yet the identification of the papacy with
the Antichrist has also revealed the limitations of apocalyptic interpretation
when applied to historical institutions. Predictions about papal destruction and
divine judgment have repeatedly failed to materialize, while the papal
office has survived and adapted to changing circumstances in ways

(13:59):
that contradict prophetic expectations. The theological problem with identifying any
historical institution with the Biblical Antichrist lies in the gap
between prophetic symbolism and historical reality. Apocalyptic literature employs mythological
language to describe cosmic conflicts between good and evil that

(14:19):
transcend particular political or religious arrangements. The reduction of biblical
prophecy to contemporary political criticism risks both trivializing the theological
meaning of apocalyptic texts and demonizing human institutions that, however flawed,
remain fundamentally human rather than supernatural in character. The history

(14:41):
of anti papal Antichrist theory serves as a cautionary tale
about the dangers of applying biblical prophecy to contemporary politics
without sufficient recognition of the symbolic and theological character of
apocalyptic literature. White Smoke is a production of Calaroga Shark media,
portions of which were made with the help of a narration,

(15:03):
but still written and produced by real podcasters Mark Francis
and John McDermott.