What is the Catholic understanding of Antichrist?

Let us start by giving a precise definition of the several types of figures mentioned in Bible passages related to eschatology:

• false prophet: someone who speaks in the name of false gods, or who speaks in the name of God what God has not commanded him to speak.

• false christ: someone who claims to be the Christ.

• antichrist: someone who denies that Jesus of Nazareth is the consubstantial Son of God Who has assumed a human nature. Defined in 1 Jn 2:22 and 4:2-3:

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. (1 Jn 2:22)

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 Jn 4:2-3)

• "the" antichrist: an antichrist that will come at the end of times. It is described in 2 Thess 2:3-12, where Paul calls him "the man of lawlessness" and "the lawless one". This answers the first question asked.

These categories are not mutually exclusive. E.g., if a false Christ denies that Jesus is the Son of God, he is also an antichrist. But he would be only a false christ and not an antichrist if he did not deny that Jesus was the Son of God, claiming instead that he is a subsequent incarnation, in the way that Rama and Krishna are said to be succesive incarnations of Vishnu.

Magisterial sources on this subject

The treatment of this subject by the Catholic magisterium is limited to a few statements, none of them being a solemn, definitive definition. A search on vatican.va yields three documents:

1. The Catechism [1], which does not state explicitely whether the Antichrist will be a particular human being or it could be an existential mindset or attitude and a political/social system which enforces that attitude.

The Church's ultimate trial

675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. [573] The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth [574] will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. [575]

676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. the Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, [576] especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism. [577]

677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. [578] The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. [579] God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. [580]

573 Cf. ⇒ Lk 18:8; ⇒ Mt 24:12.

574 Cf. ⇒ Lk 21:12; ⇒ Jn 15:19-20.

575 Cf. ⇒ 2 Th 2:4-12; ⇒ I Th 5:2-3; 2 ⇒ Jn 7; ⇒ I Jn 2:1 8, ⇒ 22.

576 Cf. DS 3839.

577 Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the "false mysticism" of this "counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly"; cf. GS 20-21.

578 Cf. ⇒ Rev 19:1-9.

579 Cf ⇒ Rev 13:8; ⇒ 20:7-10; ⇒ 21:2-4.

580 Cf. ⇒ Rev 20:12 ⇒ 2 Pt 3:12-13.

2. The encyclical "E supremi" issued by Pope Pius X on Oct. 4, 1903 [2]:

5. When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the world the "Son of Perdition" of whom the Apostle speaks (II. Thess. ii., 3). Such, in truth, is the audacity and the wrath employed everywhere in persecuting religion, in combating the dogmas of the faith, in brazen effort to uproot and destroy all relations between man and the Divinity! While, on the other hand, and this according to the same apostle is the distinguishing mark of Antichrist, man has with infinite temerity put himself in the place of God, raising himself above all that is called God; in such wise that although he cannot utterly extinguish in himself all knowledge of God, he has rejected [#] God's majesty and, as it were, made of the universe a temple wherein he himself is to be adored. "He sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God" (II. Thess. ii., 2).

[#] I fixed this word from the original "Eius tamen maiestate reiecta".

3. A catechesis at a general audience by Pope Benedict XVI, on Nov. 12, 2008 [3]:

In his Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul [...] announces that before the Lord's arrival there will be apostasy, and one well described as the "man of lawlessness", "the son of perdition" (2: 3) must be revealed, who tradition would come to call the Antichrist.

[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1V.HTM

[2] http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_04101903_e-supremi.html

[3] http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081112.html

What is the Catholic understanding of Antichrist?

Prophecy is usually recognized as true while the thing prophesized have run their course. This would apply to the Antichrist also the anti-church and anti-gospel of Pope John Paul II should be seen as something the against the Church and against the Gospels and not as a counterfeit church or a counterfeit gospel, although the Antichrist will no doubt teach a false gospel of sorts.

Even within the church, the subject of the Antichrist is somewhat opinion based as well subject to speculation to say the least.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the faithful about the Church's final combat:

675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.

677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.

What the Antichrist Will Be Like, According to Bl. John Henry Newman

Times of the Antichrist was the title of the first sermon. Here as in the rest, Cardinal Newman follows the ancient Fathers who were not too far removed from the apostles, like Sts. Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and others like Jerome. Their agreement, and weight of authority, are reasons to esteem their insights.

In each of the sermons Newman readily refers to various Scripture passages and clearly refers to what Jesus said. He weaves together the prophecies of the end times in the visions in the Books of Daniel and Revelation, plus in sections from the epistles.

Newman clearly states none of the interpretations are his own.

He begins with the signs of the second Advent, said “to be a certain frightful apostasy, and the manifestation of the man of sin, the son of perdition — that is, as he is commonly called, Antichrist. Our Saviour seems to add, that that sign will immediately precede Him, or that His coming will follow close upon it (Matthew 24).

Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 (about Christ and the Lawless one) explains that there is a restraining power holding back the lawless one from being revealed until that restrainer is removed for a sort time. Newman says the ancients considered the Roman Empire the restrainer, but while the empire was seemingly destroyed or dismantled, he notes in view of the prophecy in Thessalonians, the Roman Empire still existed in some form in Newman’s own day.

In a sermon to follow he focuses on one of those forms only slightly removed from his own day — the French Revolution which persecuted religion and enshrined and worshipped Liberty and man.

But the Antichrist will be a single person. It is said there will “come a falling away, and the man of sin will be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3),” he writes. “In other words, the Man of Sin is born of an Apostasy, or at least comes into power through an apostasy, or is preceded by an apostasy, or would not be except for an apostasy. So says the inspired text: now observe, how remarkably the course of Providence, as seen in history, has commented on this prediction.”

The following are some prophesies made by the Early Church Fathers, and whose prophesies are the most trusted.

Prophesies of the Antichrist By Early Church Fathers

St Cyril of Jerusalem 315-386 AD

"And after these shall arise antichrist and having by the signs and lying wonders of his magical deceit, beguiled the Jews as though he were the expected Christ, he shall afterwards characterize himself by all kinds of excesses of cruelty and lawlessness…and he shall perpetrate such things for 3 years and 6 months

"Antichrist will exceed in malice, perversity, lust, wickedness, impiety, and ruthlessness and barbarity all men that have ever disgraced human nature. Hence St. Paul emphatically calls him `the man of sin the son of perdition, the wicked one, whose birth and coming is through the operation of Satan, in all manner of seduction and iniquity.' (2 Thess., 2). Through his great power, deceit and malice he shall succeed in decoying or forcing to his worship two thirds of mankind; the remaining third part of men will continue true to the faith and worship of Jesus Christ most steadfastly. But in his satanic rage and fury, Antichrist will persecute these brave and devout Christians during three years and a half, and torture them with such an extremity of barbarity, with all the old and newly invented instruments of pain, as to exceed all past persecutors of the Church combined. He will oblige all his followers to bear impressed upon their foreheads or right hands the mark of the Beast and will starve to death all those who refuse to receive it."

This one shall seize the power of the Roman Empire and shall falsely style himself Christ. By the name Christ he shall deceive the Jews who are expecting the anointed and he shall seduce the Gentiles by his magical illusions.

St. Irenaeus 125-202

“He shall sit in the Temple of God as if he were Christ, and leading astray those who worship him For when he is come, and of his own accord concentrates in his own person the apostasy, and accomplishes whatever he shall do according to his own will and choice, sitting also in the Temple of God so that his dupes may adore him as the Christ...” “By means of the events which shall occur in the time of Antichrist it is shown that he, being an apostate and a robber, is anxious to be adored as God; and that although a mere slave. he wishes to be proclaimed as a king. For he being endued with all the power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, not as a legitimate king obedient to God but as an impious, unjust, and lawless one; as an iniquitous and murderous apostate; as a robber, concentrating in himself a satanic apostasy, and setting aside idols to persuade men that he himself is God

The antichrist will deceive the Jews to such an extent that they will accept him as the messiah and worship him

The disciples of the apostles say (from oral tradition) that they (Elias and Henoch) whose living bodies were taken up from this world have been placed in an earthly paradise where they will remain until the end of the world.

At the time of his reign antichrist will command that Jerusalem ne rebuilt in its splendour and will make it a great and populous city, second to none in the world and will order his palace to be built there

St. Methodius of Olympus 250-311

"A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: "We have subjected the earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape our hands." Then a Roman Emperor will arise in great fury against them... Drawing his sword, he will fall upon the foes of Christianity and crush them. Then peace will reign on earth, and priests will be relieved of all their anxieties.

"In the last period Christians will not appreciate the great grace of God who provided a monarch, a long duration of peace, a splendid fertility of the earth. They will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life, in pride, vanity, unchastely, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices, [so] that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many will doubt whether the Catholic faith is the true and only saving one and whether the Jews are correct when they still expect the Messiah. Many will be the false teachings and resultant bewilderment. The just God will in consequence give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on earth and tempt his godless creatures...

"He will be born in Chorazaim, nourished in Bethsaida, and reign in Capharnaum. Chorazim will rejoice because he was born in her, and Capharnaum because he will have reigned in her. For this reason in the Third Gospel the Lord gave the following statement: "Woe to you, Chorazaim, woe to you Bethsaida, woe to you Capharnaum --- if you have risen up to heaven, you will descend to hell" [Luke 10:13, 15]. When the Son of Perdition has arisen, the King of the Romans will ascend Golgotha upon which the wood of the Holy Cross is fixed, in the place where the Lord underwent death for us. The king will take the crown from his head and place it upon the cross and stretching out his hands to heaven will hand over the kingdom of the Christians to God the Father. The cross and crown of the king will be taken up together to heaven. This is because the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the common salvation of all will begin to appear before him at his coming to convict the lack of faith of the unbelievers. The prophecy of David which says, "In the last days Ethiopia will stretch out her hand to God" [Psalm 67:32] will be fulfilled in that these last men who stretch out their hands to God are from the seed of Chuseth, the daughter of Phol, king of Ethiopia. When the Cross has been lifted up on high to heaven, the King of the Romans will directly give up his spirit. Then every principality and power will be destroyed that the Son of Perdition may manifest...

"When the Son of Perdition appears, he will be of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy of Jacob. This enemy of religion will use a diabolic art to produce many false miracles, such as causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear. Those possessed with demons will be exorcised. He will deceive many and, if he could, as our Lord has said, even the faithful elect.

"Even the Antichrist will enter Jerusalem, where he will enthrone himself in the temple as a god (even though he will be an ordinary man of the tribe of Dan to which Judas Iscariot also belonged).

"In those days, the Antichrist will bring about many tribulation; but God will not allow those redeemed by the divine blood to be deceived. For that reason, he will send his two servants, Enoch and Elias, who will declare the prodigies of the Antichrist to be false, and will denounce him as an impostor. After the death and ruin of many, he will leave the Temple in confusion; and many of his followers will forsake him to join the company of the righteous. The seducer, upon seeing himself reproached and scorned, will become enraged and will put to death those saints of God. It is then that there will appear the sign of the Son of Man, and he will come upon the clouds of heaven."

St. Ambrose 340-397

Antichrist will attempt to prove from scripture that he is the Christ.

St. John Chrysostom 347-407

"Antichrist will be possessed by Satan and be the illegitimate son of a Jewish woman from the East. This world will be faithless and degenerate after the birth of Anti-Christ”.

St. Ephraem 300-373

"Then the Lord from His Glorius heaven shall set up his peace. And the kingdom of the Romans shall rise in place of this latter people and establish its dominion upon the earth, even unto its ends, and there shall be no-one who will resist it. After iniquity shall have subsequently multiplied and all creatures have become defiled then divine justice shall appear and shall wholly destroy the people and coming fourth from perdition the man of iniquity shall be revealed upon the earth, the seducer of men and disturber of the whole earth

"Let us learn, my friends, in what form shall come on earth the shameless serpent, since the Redeemer, wishing to save all mankind, was born of a Virgin and in human form crushed the enemy with the holy power of his godhead. This then the enemy, having learnt that again shall the Lord come from heaven in the glory of His divinity, thus bethought him to assume the form of His coming and beguile all men. So in very truth shall he be born of a defiled woman, his instrument. In the form of Him shall come the all-polluted, as a wily thief to beguile all beings. Humble and gentle, hating the speech of the unjust, overturning all idols, honouring piety, a good lover of the poor, exceedingly fair, altogether well disposed, pleasant towards all. To conciliate all, he plots craftily, that he may be loved soon by the peoples; neither gifts shall he accept, nor speak in anger. He shows himself not sullen, but ever cheerful. And in all these well-planned schemes he beguileth the world so long as he shall rule. For when the many peoples and nations shall behold such great virtues, fair deeds and powers, all of one mind shall become and with great joy shall crown him, saying one to another, surely there is not found such another man so good and just... For the shameless one, grasping authority, sends his demons unto all the ends of the earth to announce unto all that a great king hath appeared in glory; come thither and behold... The peoples shall be gathered, and they shall come that they may see God, and the crowds of the peoples shall cleave to him, and all shall deny their own God and invite their fellows to praise the son of perdition, and one on another they shall fall and with swords each other destroy... Magnifying his miracles, performing his portents, Deceiver and not in truth manifesting these things, in such fashion the tyrant removeth the mountains, and simulates falsely and not truly while the multitude stands by, many nations and peoples applauding him for his illusions... Again this same dragon stretches out his hands and gathers the multitudes of reptiles and birds; and likewise he moves over the surface of the deep, andas on dry ground he walks thereon. But he simulates these things... The lightnings shall be his ministers and signify his advent; the demons shall constitute his forces, and the princes of the demons shall be his disciples; to far-distant lands he shall send captains of his bands, who shall impart virtue and healing... A great conflict, Brethren, in those times amongst all men, but especially amongst the faithful, when there shall be signs and wonders wrought by the Dragon in great abundance, when he shall again manifest himself as God in fearful phantasms flying in the air, and show all the demons in the forms of angels flying in terror before the tyrant, for he crieth out loudly, changing his forms also to strike infinite dread into all men...

"Then the skies no longer rain, the earth no longer beareth fruit, the springs run out, the rivers dry up, herbs no longer sprout, grass no longer grows, trees wither from their roots and no longer put forth fruits, the fishes of the sea and the monsters therein die out, and thus they say a fetid stench emits with a fearful roar, that men shall fail and perish through terror. And then in dread shall moan and groan all life alike when all shall see the pitiless distress that compasseth them by night and eke by day, and nowhere find the food wherewith to fill themselves... For stern governors of the people shall be appointed each in his place, and whoso bears with him the seal of the tyrant may buy a little food.

The man of evil will prepare and coming he will enter Jerusalem; he will build up and establish Sion and will make himself God and entering he will sit in the temple as the apostle has written as if he were God

St. John Damascene 676-787

"And when he was taken up, He [Jesus] ascended to the East and thus the apostles worshipped Him and thus He shall come in the same way as they had seen Him going into heaven, as the Lord himself said “ As lightening cometh out of the east and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”. And so while we are awaiting Him we worship toward the East. This is moreover the unwritten tradition of the apostles, for they have handed many things down to us unwritten.

"One should know that the antichrist must come . Antichrist to be sure is everyone who does not confess that the Son of God came in the flesh is perfect God and became perfect man while at the same time He was God. In a peculiar and special sense however he who is to come at the consummation of the world is Antichrist. So it is first necessary for the Gospel to have been preached to all the gentiles as the Lord said, and then he shall come unto conviction of the impious Jews. For the Lord said to them: I am come in the name of the father and you receive me not: If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. And the apostle: “because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: that all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have consented to iniquity. Hence the Jews did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ and God, although He was the Son of God, but the deceiver who says he is God they will receive. For that he will call himself God, the angel who taught Daniel thus declares: “he will make no account of the gods of his Fathers”. And the Apostle: “Let no man deceive you by any means; for unless there comes a revolt first and the son of perdition, who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God” He says ---not however in ours but in the former one that of the Jews, for he will not come to us but to the Jews (initially)—not for the sake of Christ and Christ’s for which reason alone, he is also called Antichrist

“The gospel, then, must first be preached in all nations “ and then that wicked one shall be revealed: whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders, in all seduction of inquity to them that perish: who the Lord shall kill with the words of His mouth and the coming of His brightness” Thus the devil does not himself become man after the incarnation of the Lord –God forbid! --! But a man is born of fornication and receives into himself the whole operation of Satan, for God permits the devil to inhabit him for He (God) foresees the future perversity of his will.

“So he is born of fornication as we said and is brought up unnoticed: but all of a sudden he rises up, revolts and rules. During the first part of his reign – of his tyranny rather – he plays more the part of sanctity; but when he gains complete control, he persecutes the Church of God and reveals all his wickedness. “And he shall come in signs and lying wonders” – sham ones and not real – and he shall seduce those whose intention rests on a rotten and unstable foundation and make them abandon the living God., “in as much as to scandalize (if possible) even the elect.

St. Hildegard 1098-1179

When the great ruler (the Great Monarch who is to rule Europe after the collapse of Communism) exterminates the Turks almost entirely, one of the remaining Mohammedans will be converted, become a priest bishop and cardinal, and when the new pope is elected (immediately before Antichrist) this cardinal will kill the pope before he is crowned, through jealousy, wishing to be pope himself; then when the other cardinals elect the next pope this cardinal will proclaim himself Anti-pope, and two-thirds of the Christians will go with him. He, as well as Antichrist, are descendants of the tribe of Dan.

Antichrist will make the earth move, level mountains, dry up rivers, produce thunder and lightning and hail, remove the leaves from the trees and return them again to the trees, make men sick and cure them, exorcise devils, raise the dead to life. He will appear to be crucified and rise from the dead. All in all, Christians will be astounded and in grievous doubts while the followers of Antichrist will be confirmed in their false faith.

Antichrist will come from a land that lies between two seas and will practise his tyranny in the East. After his birth false. teachers and doctrines will appear, followed by wars, famines,. and pestilence. His mother will seldom let any one see him, and yet by magic. art, she will manage to gain the love of the people for him.

What have Popes said about Vladimir Soloviev?

Soloviev is a “Russian figure of extraordinary depth,” said St. John Paul II during his Angelus of July 30, 2000.

He is “one of the greatest Russian Christian philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries,” John Paul II said again in 2003 in a long message about Soloviev that the Holy Father sent to participants gathered to discuss this major figure on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

In his Crossing the Threshold of Hope, John Paul II refers to Soloviev, and in his encyclical Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason) he lists Soloviev as standing in a line of distinguished Christian philosophers.

During a talk on Soloviev Cardinal Giacomo Biffi noted that the theologian-mystic was “cited approvingly by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.”

Obviously, Soloviev has exceptional credentials...

Although Soloviev died in 1900 as the door opened on the 20th century, Cardinal Biffi, a noted scholar of his works, pointed out his predictions of things that would happen in the 20th century are "astonishing" in their accuracy. - Vladimir Soloviev, the Mystic admired by Popes.

Both Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI held in high esteem the Russian Philosopher Vladimir Solovyov and his book on the Tale of the Anti-Christ.

In his Tale of the Antichrist, Vladimir Soloviev details a vision of how events might take place in the 20th century and into the 21st that usher in the Antichrist, and then how that monstrous person would act.

This Antichrist showed himself as a kindhearted humanitarian who appeared to love all forms of life. He was a vegetarian, was concerned about ecology, and was an ecumenist.

“The twentieth century was the epoch of the last great wars and revolutions. The greatest of these wars had its distant cause in the movement of Pan Mongolism which originated in Japan as far back as the end of the nineteenth century.” China became heavily involved. Europe was invaded.

Not long after the defeat of the invaders, the European states started to reorganize. The old institutions become extinct. Soloviev says: “Europe in the twenty-first century represented an alliance of more or less democratic nations — the United States of Europe.”

Sounds a lot like the European Union.

The Freemasons in the European Council have a hand in getting this man elected as president of the United States of Europe then giving him the next title of Roman Emperor — emperor of the world — as the Antichrist promised peace to the world, and food and prosperity under his rule. Governments around the world joined the United States of Europe.

The Holy See was banished from Rome and made its way to St. Petersburg. But, Soloviev says, “In all the other countries, particularly in North America, the Catholic priesthood still had a good many representatives possessed of strong will, inexhaustible energy, and independent character, who welded together the Catholic Church into a closer unity than it had ever seen before…”

As those true to the Faith look to the Gospel and Church Fathers on the Antichrist and see the nations led astray, the exposure of this wicked leader begins. Of course, he confronts them, but in a way not expected.

He invites the true Christians to send representatives to meet with him where he has transferred his imperial residence to Jerusalem where he built luxurious palaces and a huge temple to unite all cults.

Soloviev envisions the reaction of the Jews when they also learn this unmasked wicked imposter has led them astray from the real Messiah, and then the final say with Heaven’s answer. - Soloviev and His Tale of the Antichrist

The Antichrist is a single person, but anyone opposed to Christ can also be called an antichrist:

Sacræ Theologiæ Summa IVB on the Last Things, §264 "The coming of the Antichrist", PDF pp. 462-463, says "Antichrist"

designates: a) broadly, the one who is Christ’s adversary, so that therefore there are many anti­christs; b) but by antonomasia, someone coming at the end of the world as a bitter enemy of Christ.

Fr. Hardon, S.J.'s Catholic Dictionary defines "Antichrist" as:

The chief of Christ's enemies. The New Testament specifically names him only in I John 2:18,

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many Antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last hour.

2:22;

Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father, and the Son.

4:3,

And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world.

and II John [1:]7,

For many seducers are gone out into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh: this is a seducer and an antichrist.

where he is identified with unbelievers who deny the Incarnation. Over the centuries the Antichrist has been variously associated with historical persons, e.g., Caligula, Simon Magus, and Nero, or again with organized movements such as Arianism. The more common Catholic interpretation says that he is not merely symbolic or an embodiment of the anti-Christian. The Antichrist is a real person. (Etym. Greek antichristos, against Christ.)

The coming of Antichrist is one of the signs of Christ's second coming.

See also:

• "What is the Catholic interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2:3" (that Antichrist "sitteth in the temple of God")?