“…As far as the antichrist is concerned, we have seen that in the New Testament he always assumes the lineaments of contemporary history. He cannot be restricted to any single individual. One and the same he wears many masks in each generation…”
There is no consensus on this within Catholic eschatology, so one is free to form one’s own opinion so long as they avoid heresies. Benedict was head of the CDF when he made this statement.*** —Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI), Dogmatic Theology, Eschatology 9, Johann Auer and Joseph Ratzinger, 1988, p. 199-200
Those who have studied the Scriptures their whole lives, be they Jewish or Christians don’t necessarily get it wrong. They just don’t have the whole story, as handed down by Christ, Our Savior, to the Apostles, and down through the bishops and the popes. We need to listen to them with charity, and kindly fill in the blanks. Where they are wrong, we correct them, this is merciful.Singular: an antichrist. An individual person, being some kind of antithesis to the Messiah that heralds a final trial before the end.
I thought this was an Evangelical interpretation of scripture, and that an Antichrist was anybody that was opposed to the Gospel, but I’m not sure.
Benedict XVI’s position, as usual, strikes me as by far the most plausible one. We have evidence from scripture, as quoted above by a previous poster, that there are “many antichrists”.I don’t interpret the AC to be an individual person.
Maximilien Robespierre (6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and politician, and one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror…
As an orator, he praised revolutionary government and argued that “terror” – at least as he defined it – was necessary, laudable and inevitable. It was Robespierre’s belief that the Republic and virtue were of necessity inseparable. He reasoned that the Republic could be saved only by the virtue of its citizens, and that a Robespierrist Terror was virtuous because it attempted to maintain the Revolution and the Republic. For example, in his Report on the Principles of Political Morality, given on 5 February 1794, Robespierre stated:
The spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country … The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny.[52]
Robespierre’s speeches were exceptional, and he had the power to change the views of almost any audience. His speaking techniques included invocation of virtue and morals, and quite often the use of rhetorical questions in order to identify with the audience. He would gesticulate and use ideas and personal experiences in life to keep listeners’ attentions. His final method was to state that he was always prepared to die in order to save the Revolution.[53]
… he made every attempt to instill in the populace and Convention the urgency of carrying out the Terror.
Robespierre saw no room for mercy in his Terror, stating that “slowness of judgments is equal to impunity” and “uncertainty of punishment encourages all the guilty”…A staunch believer in the teachings of Rousseau, Robespierre believed that it was his duty as a public servant to push the Revolution forward, and that the only rational way to do that was to defend it on all fronts. The Report did not merely call for blood but also expounded many of the original ideas of the 1789 Revolution, such as political equality, suffrage and abolition of privileges.[55]…
Georges Couthon, his ally on the Committee, introduced and carried on 10 June the drastic Law of 22 Prairial. Under this law, the Tribunal became a simple court of condemnation without need of witnesses.…
Cult of the Supreme Being
He opposed the power of the Catholic Church and the Pope, and especially was opposed to its celibacy policies…Accordingly, on 7 May 1794, Robespierre supported a decree passed by the Convention that established an official religion, known historically as the Cult of the Supreme Being. The notion of the Supreme Being was based on ideas that Jean-Jacques Rousseau had outlined in The Social Contract. A nationwide “Festival of the Supreme Being” was held on 8 June (which was also the Christian holiday of Pentecost). Robespierre, who happened to be President of the Convention that week, walked first in the festival procession and delivered a speech in which he emphasised his concept of a Supreme Being…
Everything was arranged to the exact specifications that had been previously set before the ceremony; the ominous and symbolic guillotine had been moved to the original standing place of the Bastille, all of the people were placed in the appropriate area designated to them, and everyone was dressed accordingly.[60] Not only was everything going smoothly, but the Festival was also Robespierre’s first appearance in the public eye as an actual leader for the people, and also as President of the Convention, to which he had been elected only four days earlier.[60]
While for some it was an excitement to see him at his finest, many other leaders involved in the Festival agreed that Robespierre had taken things a bit too far.** Multiple sources state that Robespierre came down the mountain in a way that resembled Moses as the leader of the people,[61] and one of his colleagues, Jacques-Alexis Thuriot, was heard saying, “Look at the bugger; it’s not enough for him to be master, he has to be God”**.[61]
…By stating that Robespierre was the “herald of the Last Days, prophet of the New Dawn”,[63] (because his festival had fallen on the Pentecost, traditionally a day revealing “divine manifestation”)…which made it seem as if he were attempting to create a new religion, with himself as its god… many assumed that he was on a path to dictatorship, and it sent a current of fear throughout the Convention, contributing to his downfall the following July.