An arch-conservative cardinal chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to deliver this year’s Lenten meditations to the Vatican hierarchy has caused consternation by warning of an Antichrist who is “a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist.”
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 78, who retired as Archbishop of Bologna just over three years ago, quoted Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), the Russian philosopher and mystic, as predicting that the Antichrist “will convoke an ecumenical council and seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions”.
The “masses” would follow the Antichrist, “with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants” who would fight to prevent the watering down and ultimate destruction of the faith.
The Pope traditionally withdraws from public view during the first week of Lent, conducting “Spiritual Exercises” in retreat with close advisers in the Redemptoris Chapel in the Vatican. He cancels all engagements, instead listening to “meditations” by a keynote speaker.
The choice of Cardinal Biffi raised eyebrows in the Vatican, given the cardinal’s forthright and sometimes eccentric views. The cardinal warned of the coming of the Antichrist during his two decades as Archbishop of Bologna, and said an “invasion” of Muslim immigrants was undermining Europe’s Christian values. Cardinal’s ‘Antichrist’ warnings raise eyebrows by Richard Owen
Mark Alexander
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