Times (London) - March 6, 2000
Vegetarian Antichrist is 'walking among us'
FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME
THE leading conservative contender to succeed the Pope yesterday said that the "Antichrist" was already on Earth in the guise of a prominent philanthropist whose concern for human rights and the environment and advocacy of ecumenicism masks his real aim: the destruction of Christianity and "the death of God".
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, 71, the Archbishop of Bologna, said the Antichrist was not the beast with seven heads described in the Book of Revelation but a "fascinating personality" whose outward charm and plausibility had deceived his enemies. Cardinal Biffi said the Antichrist espoused vegetarianism, pacifism, environmentalism and animal rights.
He also identified the Antichrist as an expert on the Bible who nonetheless promotes "vague and fashionable spiritual values" rather than the Scriptures. He advocates ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, including Anglicanism and the Orthodox Church. This appeared to be a worthy aim, but was in fact being used by the Antichrist in an attempt to water down and undermine Catholicism to the point where it collapsed.
The cardinal did not say whether he had any particular world figure in mind, and his real target seemed to be the substitution of "feel-good" causes, such as ecology and humanitarian aid, for "true religion". His remarks appeared to mark out part of the conservative agenda ahead of the next conclave to elect a Pope. The physical decline of Pope John Paul II, 79, has sparked off jostling for position among the cardinals who stand to replace him.
Cardinal Biffi was speaking at a conference in Bologna on the work of Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), the Russian philosopher and mystic, whom he praised as a "forgotten prophet" who had "lucidly foreseen" the horrors of the 20th century. In his last writings, the cardinal said, Solovyov had predicted the rise of the Antichrist after a century of bloodshed, wars, revolutions and the breakdown of the nation state.