Tech billionaire Peter Thiel is currently funding a highly secretive, invitation-only lecture series focused on the “Antichrist” in Rome, situated just outside the Vatican. The four-part event, scheduled to run from Sunday through Wednesday, has prompted immediate distancing from major Catholic educational institutions. The Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University, the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV, and the Catholic University of America both issued formal statements denying any official sponsorship or hosting duties for the gathering.
The Rome meetings are organized by the Vincenzo Gioberti Cultural Association and the Cluny Institute. The structure follows an off-the-record blueprint established by Thiel in San Francisco in September 2025, where attendees purchased tickets for $200 under strict no-recording policies.
#News Peter Thiel takes ‘Antichrist’ lectures to the Vatican’s doorstep and Catholic institutions recoil: Summarised by Centrist
Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel has taken a lecture tour to Rome, with an invitation-only series on the… https://t.co/RsVYhuxSeW pic.twitter.com/7PdnC1C4mb
— The Good Oil (@GoodOilNews) March 16, 2026
Leaked audio from the 2025 sessions revealed Thiel portraying the “Antichrist” as a unifying global power that utilizes existential fears to enforce scientific stagnation. During those lectures, the billionaire reportedly referred to climate activists as “legionnaires of the Antichrist.”
Thiel, who holds an estimated net worth of $27 billion as the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, remains a major financial backer within U.S. politics. He previously served as a primary financier for Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who recently traveled to the region to meet with Pope Leo XIV. The ongoing lectures highlight a growing ideological intersection between Silicon Valley capital and traditional theology across the world.