NEW: JD Vance’s Top Donor Suggests Pope Leo XIV is Antichrist

In a leaked lecture, Peter Thiel says he’s urged Vance to ignore the pope on moral questions — and simply pray for him.

Dear friends —

Happy Feast of Christ the King! Today’s essay is a subscriber-only deep dive into one of the most shocking and underreported stories in American religion, politics, and tech.

Three weeks ago, a series of leaked recordings and transcripts from a private lecture series in San Francisco began circulating. They included comments from tech billionaire Peter Thiel — the most important political patron of Vice President JD Vance and one of the wealthiest, most influential minds in Silicon Valley.

In these lectures, Thiel doesn’t just flirt with the apocalyptic. He goes all in — openly discussing the Antichrist, naming Pope Leo XIV as a potential manifestation of that figure, and, most disturbingly, advising JD Vance to ignore the pope on moral matters altogether.

Let that sink in: the main backer of the likely GOP nominee for president is accusing the Bishop of Rome of being an agent of the end times — and telling Vice President Vance to disregard the pope’s moral guidance.

And yet, outside this community, the story barely made a dent.

No major religion reporter ran with it. No flagship tech newsletter dug into the theological implications. No one in mainstream political media even seemed to notice.

That’s because so many institutions — religious, secular, and digital alike — are siloed. They miss the big story precisely because they’re too entrenched in their spheres to see what’s happening at the intersections.

That’s why Letters from Leo exists. And that’s why your support matters.

Today’s essay is the kind of piece only Letters from Leo can publish. It threads the theological, political, and technological into a single story — and explains why it matters that the American right’s most important financier is preaching a vision of salvation that looks a lot more like gnosticism than Christianity.

We’ll explore what Thiel’s “Antichrist” theology actually says, what it reveals about Silicon Valley’s creeping pseudo-religion, and how it could shape the worldview of the MAGA’s most likely heir.

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Thanks for reading. Let’s get into it.

In a private lecture series on the Antichrist, tech billionaire Peter Thiel — a key backer of Vice President JD Vance — has unveiled a techno-utopian creed that clashes with traditional Christianity.

It’s an alarming stance, especially given Thiel’s outsized influence on Vance, a rising Republican star widely seen as the party’s top 2028 presidential contender.

Thiel’s “Antichrist” lecture name checked Pope Leo XIV, suggested that Thiel has encouraged JD Vance to ignore the moral advice of the pope, and offer a window into a Silicon Valley spirituality that is profoundly heterodox — closer to ancient gnosticism than to Christian orthodoxy — and they insist that technology and human innovation are the true sources of salvation.

This is deeply concerning, since Thiel is the main patron behind Vance’s political ascent.

Thiel and Vance: An Unholy Alliance?

Thiel’s alliance with JD Vance is no accident. The pair first connected over a decade ago, when Vance was a Yale Law student impressed by Thiel’s contrarian ideas. Thiel soon became a mentor and benefactor, recruiting Vance into his venture firm and later bankrolling Vance’s political rise.

In fact, Vance’s 2022 Senate victory in Ohio would not have happened without Thiel’s $15 million investment.

Thiel knew what he was buying: Vance had worked for Thiel’s California venture-capital fund and immersed himself in Thiel’s libertarian tech milieu.

Now Thiel is betting that Vance can carry his worldview to the pinnacle of power.

One associate even calls Vance a “generational bet” for Thiel — a protégé groomed to advance a new political movement shaped by Silicon Valley’s elite.

In Vance, Thiel apparently sees a future leader for 2028 who will champion the idea that unfettered technological “disruption” should trump old norms and institutions.

Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession – and a Pope in the Crosshairs

In Thiel’s apocalyptic vision, the Antichrist isn’t a horned beast so much as a seductive movement bent on halting human progress.

At his exclusive lectures in San Francisco, Thiel argued that the ultimate end-times tyrant would come as a “luddite who wants to stop all science,” using doomsday fears to seize global control over technology.

He railed against “legionnaires of the Antichrist” in today’s world — a cast that, in his view, includes environmentalists, international agencies and regulators who urge caution on AI or climate change.

Thiel even name-checked climate activist Greta Thunberg as a possible unwitting agent of this evil, lumping her in with bureaucrats whose stringent rules might shackle innovation.

But even more shocking was Thiel’s decision to bring Leo XIV into the mix.