Peter Thiel brings ‘Antichrist lessons’ to Rome, stirring scrutiny over Palantir and Vatican tensions

Palantir founder Peter Thiel has taken his closed-door seminar series known as the “Antichrist lessons” to Rome after staging an earlier session in Paris.

According to an event notice obtained by Associated Press, Thiel delivered a lecture on the “Antichrist,” a figure in Christian theology believed to oppose Jesus while presenting himself as the Messiah.

Several Italian lawmakers have asked whether Thiel intends to meet the Italian government and whether the Italian public administration currently maintains contractual ties with Palantir Technologies.

Their concerns stem from Thiel’s links to the US government. Palantir has become a major provider of data analysis tools for governments and defense institutions and has expanded its presence across Europe.

The company recently developed software for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at helping identify migrants targeted by the agency.

The private seminar, taking place at a confidential location and scheduled to run until Wednesday, is being organized in partnership with the Gioberti Association, which promotes the restoration of Catholicism as a cornerstone of Italian identity.

The association was founded three years ago by Alberto Garzoni, who studied political theory at University of Oxford and also chaired the UK group “Catholics in the Conservative Party,” which encourages Catholics to support the Conservative Party (UK) and engage in public life.

Garzoni said he hoped Thiel’s conferences would encourage “conservative forces to reflect deeply on issues that are extremely important for the future of the West and our civilization.”

Palantir maintains long-standing ties with EU officials and already has an established presence in Italy.

Italian outlet Domani reported in 2024 that the Italian Ministry of Defence had launched a procurement process for a license to Gotham, one of the company’s flagship products.

Gotham is an AI-enabled investigative platform that links multiple data sources to make them more usable for clients.

Thiel’s religious convictions are deeply rooted in his upbringing. The German-born investor, raised in an evangelical Christian family, developed a strong interest in the Antichrist.

He has repeatedly invoked the biblical figure to criticize individuals and public institutions that portray themselves as forces for peace and stability. In Thiel’s framing, the “Antichrist” could include climate activists such as Greta Thunberg or the concept of a “one-world state.”

Thiel argues that a “one-world state” seeks a totalitarian structure that would block technological progress and science. He regards those calling for tighter regulation of artificial intelligence and technology as signs associated with the Antichrist.

The Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire has published a series of articles critical of both Thiel’s views and Palantir. The publication, owned by the Italian Episcopal Conference, wrote that Thiel “proposes tools that, in the name of saving humanity, ultimately restrict humanity’s most human dimension.”

Earlier this year Pope Leo said his call for AI regulation was not intended to halt innovation but “rather to guide it and recognize its contradictory nature.”

The pope and US bishops have also sharply criticized the hardline immigration measures of Donald Trump, from which Palantir has benefited, since the company’s services have been used by ICE to track migrants.

Massimo Faggioli, professor of church history at Trinity College Dublin, said Thiel’s visit to Rome amounts to a veiled challenge to Pope Leo by conservative “MAGA Catholics.”

“This is, in my view, a hostile move against the papacy,” Faggioli said. “This pope is very critical of artificial intelligence, and Thiel is one of its advocates. It is part of an attempt to create an alternative American circle in Rome that would rival what Pope Leo is saying.”

Faggioli added that the Vatican sees Thiel as someone involved in “a violent project aimed at changing the future,” fundamentally at odds with the vision and values of the contemporary Catholic Church.

The Vatican’s AI adviser Paolo Benanti wrote on Saturday in Le Grand Continent that Thiel’s career “can be interpreted as a long-standing act of dissent against the liberal consensus, a challenge to the foundations of civil coexistence that he now considers outdated.”

In another article published in Avvenire, Palantir was described as “a Big Brother that overshadows Orwell’s prophecy.”