Peter Thiel in Rome: closed-door seminars on the Antichrist

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, held a series of private seminars in Rome in mid-March. The meetings took place at Palazzo Taverna over four days, from Sunday to Wednesday. The theme was the figure of the Antichrist and the thesis that democracy and freedom are no longer compatible in the present era. Euronews reported the story.

The audience was small and hand-picked. It included young ultra-conservatives, entrepreneurs and journalists, among them Daniele Capezzone, editor of the daily Il Tempo, and Guido Maria Brera, founder of Chora Media. Participants were not allowed to record or transcribe the talks.

The meetings were organised by the Vincenzo Gioberti cultural association. For the association, the theme of the Antichrist is not «un vezzo tardomedievale» (a late-medieval whim) but «il riconoscimento che nel nostro presente operano incessantemente delle forze, più o meno occulte, impegnate a distruggere ciò che resta dell'Occidente» (the recognition that in our present, more or less hidden forces are constantly at work to destroy what remains of the West).

Thiel was one of the first investors in Facebook and is an influential figure in Silicon Valley. For years he has cultivated an interest in philosophy and theology, in particular the thought of René Girard. According to RSI, he helped draw US Vice-President JD Vance towards these themes; Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019.

The controversies

The venue remained uncertain until the last moment. The Angelicum, the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, publicly denied having organised the lecture series. Rector Thomas Joseph White denied any involvement by the university.

The Vatican also viewed the initiative with irritation, as emerged from several articles in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops. On the Sunday, Thiel did not attend a Latin mass celebrated in the church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini.

On the political front, members of the Italian opposition demanded clarity on the relationship between Palantir and the Ministry of Defence. Elisabetta Piccolotti (Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra) and Andrea Casu (Partito Democratico) voiced concern about the use of the Gotham software. The daily Domani revealed the existence of a classified one-million-euro contract between the company and the ministry, raising doubts about access to sensitive databases.

The activist group No Kings organised protests against Thiel's presence in the city, calling him a «tecnoligarca» (techno-oligarch). There were also voices in his favour: Davide Quadri of Lega Giovani defended the intellectual value of the initiative.