Is the pope, or the next pope, the antichrist?

Speculations abound concerning the identity of the Antichrist—the uniquely evil end-times world leader. A frequent conjecture is that the Antichrist will be the pope of the Roman Catholic Church. In the days of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and some of the other Reformers were convinced that the pope of that time was the Antichrist. The idea that the pope is the Antichrist even made its way into the Westminster Confession of Faith:


Today, every pope still faces pointed assertions that he is the Antichrist—John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis I, Leo XIV—and the accusations come with plenty of supporting “evidence.” Why is this? Is there anything in the Bible that would indicate that a pope will be the Antichrist?

The speculation about a pope being the Antichrist usually hinges on an interpretation of Revelation 17:9. The chapter context describes a worldwide religious system symbolized as an immoral woman riding a seven-headed, ten-horned scarlet beast. John was “greatly astonished” at the vision (Revelation 17:6), and an angel helps him understand the symbolism: “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits” (Revelation 17:9). It’s this “seven hills” detail that links the false religious system of the end times with Rome.

From ancient times, a title for the city of Rome has been the City of Seven Hills. Indeed, the city’s geography includes seven prominent hills: Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Capitoline Hill, Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Quirinal Hill, and Viminal Hill. From there, the argument goes as follows:

However, many Bible commentators say the woman in Revelation 17 cannot be the Roman Catholic Church and the seven hills cannot refer to Rome. They point out that Revelation 17:5 and Revelation 18:2 identify the woman riding the beast as the city of Babylon. (The ancient city of Babylon was located near modern-day Baghdad.) In addition, the angel speaking to John gives more information concerning the seven heads of the beast: they are more than seven hills; “they are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come” (Revelation 17:10). Thus, the passage does not seem to reference a geographical feature; the seven “hills” are seven prominent rulers—seven world empires ruled by the seven kings. At the time of the writing of Revelation, five world empires had “fallen”—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece had all come and gone. One kingdom (Rome) existed in John’s day, and one (the Antichrist’s world empire) had not yet come.

We believe it is possible for a pope to be the Antichrist, but the Bible does not give specific enough information to be dogmatic. A future (or present) pope could be the Antichrist, or perhaps the Antichrist’s false prophet (Revelation 13:11–17). If so, that pope will do the following: