in my opinion, and that of more than a few secular scholars, the revelation was a thinly veiled political commentary by an exiled revoloutionary and
religious zealot. the same symbolism that is interpreted as prophecy by the faithful can also be seen as political commentary disguised by indus,
arabian and mediterrainian mythic imagery. i've read papers that compare this colorful apocalypse to renaissance farces written with the sole intent
to embarrass the ruling elite without a single overt reference to those that ultimately became the butt of the joke.
taken in this context the term antichrist becomes somewhat of a buzzword, which in my opinion could easily be transposed with modern media
catchphrases like terrorist, fascist or (to some

at least) neocon.
conversely, if taken as divine portents, why would the antichrist, described in singular, not in fact carry as much symbolic weight as the image of
the whore of babylon, who many have come to believe symbolize the united states and its supposed moral decline? the antichrist could in fact be a
unified methodology, a cultural norm that overshadows the basic tenets of christianity under a banner of peace and utopian ideals.
in either sense, the cardinal's claim that the antichrist walks among us holds strongly as either a secular philosophic argument or theocratic
pronouncement.
regardless the statement he made seemed to me not so much a proclamation but a call to arms meant to rally a worldwide community to protect their
ideals and bolster their faith. and arguing the realities and the transparencies of the specifics defeats the purpose.
hope that makes sense....