Haus Jakob

Although the Catholic Church has never clarified the identities of the two beasts first described in Apocalypse 13, it is widely and reasonably believed that these are not literal animals. Rather, the two beasts are to be understood metaphorically as the two persons and/or entities that will join forces with the great red dragon (whom is identified in Apoc. 12:9 as the “old serpent,…the devil and Satan”) in the end times, to seduce people who are still alive at the time, away from God, thus leading to the Great Apostasy. We will take other opportunities to discuss the first beast in detail. In this blog, we focus on the second beast. Just as the first beast evidently indicates pagan Rome in the Apostolic time, pagan Europe in the end times and the Antichrist as a person, we demonstrate the evidence that the second beast of the Apocalypse is both China as a national and political entity and a person closely associated with China, known as “the false prophet” (Apoc. 16:13; 19:20).

Understanding the Unholy Trinity

A key to understanding the identities of the two beasts is to read their biblical descriptions carefully and understand the relations among Satan (the great red dragon) and the beasts. These are summarised in our poster The Unholy Trinity & the Great Harlot shown on this page. Satan and the two beasts form what is sometimes known as the Unholy Trinity. Contrary to God the Holy Trinity Who vouchsafes us salvation, the Unholy Trinity instigates us to rebel against God, and tricks us into eternal damnation in hell. Together with the great harlot, they constitute a mockery of the Trinitarian God and His Holy Mother Church. Unlike the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity being one in Nature, Substance and Essence, and “without difference or separation” (Preface of the Most Holy Trinity), the three persons in the Unholy Trinity are three separate entities, each coming before and giving rise to the next. The latter two persons, namely the two beasts, ultimately seduce people into adoring Satan, the dragon and the first person in this trinity.

The Dragon, the First Beast, and the Great Harlot

The great red dragon is the only person in the Unholy Trinity whose identity is clarified in the Bible, that he is Satan, the devil and rebel angel, who has instigated the first man and woman, in the form of a snake or serpent, to disobey God and to commit the original sin (Gen. 3; Apoc. 12:9). Such knowledge serves as an anchor point when we discern the identities of the other two persons in the Unholy Trinity. Throughout Apocalypse 12, we read that Satan and his angels first rebel against God’s plan for the Incarnation (12:4-6). They have therefore been defeated by St. Michael and his angels and “cast unto the earth” (12:7-9). While on earth, Satan tries to persecute Mary, her Son Jesus Christ, and us, “the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (12:13-17). However, as a rebel angel, the great red dragon would be a purely spiritual creature, and it would be unreasonable to understand him as a certain man or nation.

As Satan could not prevail on earth (Apoc. 12:16), he summoned the first beast who is evidently pagan Europe and closely associated with the end-time counter-church in Rome. The first piece of evidence is that the beast “was, and is not, and shall come up out of the bottomless pit” (Apoc. 17:8). The beast “was,” because European people were predominantly pagan prior to their conversion to Christianity, and the Roman Empire which originated from Europe, was leading the persecution of the Catholic Church. The beast “is not,” because Europe ceased to be a continent of paganism following its conversion, that is, until the beast “come[s] up out of the bottomless pit.” This verse also prophesies that European people will largely lose their Faith in Christ and revert to paganism towards the end times. As we are witnessing today, anti-Christian ideas, such as liberalism, modernism, secularism, and socialism are prevailing and replacing Christianity in Europe.

The second piece of evidence is that the beast has seven heads being “seven mountains, upon which the [harlot] sitteth” (Apoc. 17:9), and that the harlot has “Babylon the great” written on her forehead (Apoc. 17:5). The ancient city of Rome was built upon seven mountains or hills, which are Mons Palatinus, Mons Capitolinus, Mons Quirinalis, Mons Viminalis, Mons Esquilinus, Mons Cælius, and Mons Aventinus. The word Babylon was often used by the Apostles as a codename for Rome. For example, St. Peter, our first pope, once referred to the Church led by him in Rome as “The church that is in Babylon” (1 Peter 5:13). In the Old Testament, the word harlot is often used to refer to Israel, the people of God, when they commit idolatry or pagan worship (e.g. Isaias 1:21). The Catholic Church is the New Israel and the faithful Bride of Christ. A “harlot,” on the contrary, is an unfaithful woman, indicating an entity that seems to be a church but is unfaithful to Christ. A harlot labelled as “Babylon” sitting upon a beast with seven heads indicating seven mountains, coming back “up out of the bottomless pit” is essentially an unfaithful counter-church situated in Rome, as Europe reverting back to paganism in the end times.

Although Our Lord has promised that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against” the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church (Matt. 16:18), He never promised that the members of His Church living on earth will always be great in number, or that the visible head of His Church, the Pope, will always have his seat in Rome. Throughout history, none of these is true. Our Lord said Himself that the true members of His Church who will have eternal life will be “few” (Matt. 7:14), and the number of true Christians could possibly be reduced to zero in the end times (Luke 18:8). At the time of His Crucifixion, there were indeed only a very few people on earth still following the Lord. Popes do not always have their seats in Rome as well. St. Peter was made the first pope “at the sea of Tiberias” in today’s Middle East (John 21:1). During the Great Western Schism, multiple antipopes had their seats in Rome, while legitimate popes were elsewhere.

The return of the first beast and the end-time reversion of Europe to paganism first started with the Renaissance from the 14th century. The word Renaissance means “revival.” In that historical context, it was to revive the philosophy of pagan Rome and Greece, under the cover of art and literature. The Renaissance gave rise to naturalism, the appreciation of the fallen humanity in its natural form, rather than the supernatural humanity redeemed by God (Abp. Lefebvre 1988, pp. 3, 4). What follows are the Three Revolutions in philosophy, which have suppressed three offices of the Catholic Church in societies (cfr. Pepper 1984). The Scientific Revolution has detached natural science and the interpretation of objective reality from Catholicism, depriving the Catholic Church of her office to determine what is objectively true or false; the Protestant Revolution has detached justification and ethics from Catholicism, depriving the Catholic Church of her office to determine what is universally right or wrong; the “Enlightenment” has detached political and social science from Catholicism, depriving the Catholic Church of her office to govern nations and societies. The Three Revolutions have sent the Holy Mother Church back to the catacombs, the papacy, to the imprisonment of the Vatican, and led Europe into the darkness of liberalism, modernism, secularism, and socialism.

The repaganised Europe eventually provided the great harlot with her seat. In October 1958, following the death of Pope Pius XII, a notorious heretic named Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was invalidly elected to the papacy and took the name “John XXIII.” Prior to his invalid election, Roncalli had already been accused of modernism, a form of heresy previously declared by the Church. The Roman Catechism (Part I, Article IX) clearly teaches that “Heretics and schismatics are excluded from the Church…It is not, however, to be denied that they are still subject to the jurisdiction of the Church, inasmuch as they may be called before her tribunals, punished and anathematized.” This means that heretics and schismatics are no longer members of the Catholic Church with or without themselves being called before the Church’s tribunals and formally punished and anathematised. A pope is supposed to be the visible head of the Catholic Church, and a non-member of the Church naturally cannot be the head of the Church he is to lead. The election of a heretic to the papacy is substantially invalid. The church led by Roncalli and his heretical successors cannot be the Catholic Church, the faithful Bride of Christ, but a harlot, a mockery of the Holy Mother Church.

In the year 1962, Roncalli called the invalid council of Vatican II, as an illegitimate successor of St. Peter. The council was invalid because the man who called the council did not have the office to do so. Vatican II is evidently a council both pastoral and doctrinal, meant to be infallible, but teaches errors directly contrary to what the Church teaches previously and infallibly, especially regarding modernism, ecumenism, and religious indifferentism. We do not detail the errors of Vatican II here but only to state the fact that the communion with the church under the guidance of Vatican II is at odds with papal infallibility and Catholic Faith. Vatican II has therefore publicly given birth to a new church, with a new faith and new papacy. The faith of the Vatican II Church derives from liberalism, modernism, secularism, and socialism, the ideologies resulting from the three aforementioned Revolutions, that have repaganised Europe.

There we have it: the great harlot, a mockery of the Holy Mother Church, both geographically situated in Rome, Europe, and ideologically based on modern anti-Christian ideas having originated from Europe. The counter-church is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Apoc. 17:6), because it pretends to be the Catholic Church, to which all the saints and martyrs belong, but in reality, it seduces people away from God and His Church into a new church adoring Satan, the dragon (Apoc. 13:4).

As another result of Vatican II, the Mass has been reformed. The Novus Ordo Missæ has mutilated the essential form of the Eucharist, as defined by the Roman Catechism (Part II, The Eucharist), particularly the words used to consecrate the wine, rendering the Consecration invalid. The wine consecrated in the new rite is no longer the Blood of Christ but “the wine of her whoredom” in the “golden cup” held by the great harlot (Apoc. 17:2,4). The Vatican II Counter-Church being the great harlot seducing people living in the end times is further evidenced by the biblical description that “they who inhabit the earth, have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom” (Apoc. 17:2), as the counter-church especially encourages people to receive “Communion” under both species, namely bread and wine.

The third piece of evidence is that the seven heads of the beast are also “seven kings” and one “as it were slain to death: and his death’s wound was healed” (Apoc. 13:3; 17:9). This description is commonly associated with the Antichrist. Just like the true Christ, the Antichrist would take up a certain level of victimhood, but unlike the true Christ, the Antichrist would not actually die and resurrect but “as it were slain to death” and “healed” by natural means. The Apocalypse further clarifies that the king would be wounded “by the sword” (Apoc. 13:14).

There was indeed a king or monarch in repaganised Europe, closely associated with the Vatican II Counter-Church, the great harlot, who was famously wounded and survived. This monarch was none other than “Pope” John Paul II who was not only shot to near death on May 13, 1981 and was literally wounded by a knife on May 12, 1982 during his visit to Fatima in Portugal. John Paul II survived both attacks and was healed by modern medical means. There are other evidence identifying John Paul II with the Antichrist, which is way beyond the scope of this blog and is not to be detailed here. In short, the false papacy of John Paul II is marked by his promulgation of religious indifferentism and false ecumenism, especially with his notorious Assisi Meeting of World Religions in 1986. His multiple teachings go directly against previous infallible teachings of the Church, and yet he seduced numerous people all over the world to the new and false religion of Vatican II, with his seemingly martyrial experience and personal charisma.

It is noteworthy that the Apocalypse also prophesies that “the ten horns” of the beast “shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire” (Apoc. 17:16). The ten horns are said to be “ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but shall receive power as kings one hour after the beast” (Apoc. 17:12), which are commonly understood as the leaders of ten lesser anti-Christian nations. It has become obvious today, that in spite of the effort of the Vatican II Sect to reshape Catholicism into a new religion interesting for the modern world, the Vatican II Counter-Church—mistaken by many as the Catholic Church—is nonetheless facing declining church attendance and financial support in many modern countries.

The Second Beast and China

After a long but necessary detour, we now come to the focus of this blog: proving the second beast is both China and “Pope” Francis, the false prophet, an illegitimate pope with an unprecedentedly close association with China. Firstly, considering the relations with the dragon (Satan), although “the dragon gave [the first beast] his own strength,” the second beast himself “spoke as a dragon” (Apoc. 13:2,11). It appears that the second beast is more of an equivalent of Satan than the first beast, who does not only have the power of Satan transmitted through the former beast (Apoc. 13:12), but also acts as a duplication of Satan or Satan himself. Also unlike the first beast, the second beast has never disappeared or been defeated by God and His angels until the very end (Apoc. 20:10). This means that, as a nation, the second beast indicates one that has never been adequately Christianised prior to the false papacy of John XXIII, and one that may or may not be converted to the false religion of Vatican II in the end times.

According to non-Catholic sources, the “Christian” population of China has never risen beyond 5% of that country’s population, whereas the absolute majority of Chinese “Christians” are Protestant heretics and members of the Vatican II Counter-Church. Although China is not unique in this aspect, it certainly fits the description. The heathens among Chinese people call themselves the “descendants of a/the dragon.” Descendants is translated from chuánrén 傳人 which also means “heirs” or “disciples,” suggesting that Chinese heathens in spite of not being dragons themselves, are to act and speak as the dragon whom they consider to be their ancestor, predecessor, or mentor. However, dragon or serpent worship is indeed not unique to China either, so we must consider other biblical descriptions of the second beast.

The second beast is also said to have “two horns, like a lamb…And he did great signs, so that he made also fire to come down from heaven unto the earth in the sight of men” (Apoc. 13:11,13). Compared to the former beast being “like to a leopard,” with “the feet of a bear” and “the mouth of a lion” (Apoc. 13:2), the second beast looks much more benevolent and even Christ-like, as Christ Our Lord is known as the “Lamb of God.” The “great signs” done by the beast no doubt remind us of the signs done by God on mount Carmel (3 Kings 18:38). The second beast uses the power of Satan to mimic what God has done, underneath a deceiving, Christ-like appearance.

Liberalism, modernism, secularism, and socialism have been largely introduced to China since its late imperial and early republican era, especially during the New Culture Movement in the 1910s and 20s. Since the year 1949, a Marxist republic has been firmly established in China. Needless to say, Marxism is one of the ideologies being introduced to China from repaganised Europe or the first beast. Over time, China has developed its own version of socialism as its national foundation. Upon such a foundation, China has seemingly achieved great achievements in economy, technology, and political stability, through mostly peaceful means. The achievements of China can be easily interpreted as a result of anti-Christian ideas exclusively, such as liberalism, modernism, secularism, and socialism, because China, as a nation, has never had a Christian root to start with. There is no lack of evidence that the achievements of China are considered to be “miracles,” and that China is believed by many to be a more peaceful nation than most European nations. Therefore, China fulfils the prophecy that the second beast would “[execute] all the power of the former beast” (Apoc. 13:12), which are the anti-Christian ideas from Satan, having repaganised Europe and been introduced to China, and do “great signs” with such power. Meanwhile, China, the second beast, would “[cause] the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first beast,” because China has become a testament to the success of modern or end-time anti-Christian ideas and the lie that men can achieve great things without God, in order to “seduce them that dwell on the earth” (Apoc. 13:12,14).

Furthermore, China is closely associated with the number 666. In Apocalypse 13:16-18, this number is used as a character for all men to receive “in their right hand, or on their foreheads” in order to be allowed to “buy or sell.” The manner and purpose of such a character to be received are believed to indicate that the character is a certain code of conduct or mindset used in the end times as means of market regulation or economic control. Multiple men and entities are said to associate with this number. However, we argue that this number is especially associated with China because of its unique significance in Chinese culture. Number 6 is considered to be the number of luck in Chinese culture. Although the origin of this significance is unclear, it seemingly relates to popular Chinese gambling games that involve dice rolling, such as mahjong. Since 6 is the largest possible number one can get by rolling a single die, the number would naturally be associated with success in gambling and therefore the material prosperity achieved by luck. Meanwhile, if a single 6 could be seen as a single unit of luck, more 6s would mean more luck. In recent years, Chinese people have begun to particularly use “666” to wish each other good luck in online gaming and gambling. Therefore, the number 666 is a number and character of superstition and materialism, which can only make sense in Chinese culture. Superstition and materialism mean to replace faithfulness to God and become the mindset necessary for financial and economic success in the end times, so “that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character” (Apoc. 13:17).

The False Prophet

Just as the first beast is both repaganised Europe and the Antichrist John Paul II, we argue that the second beast is also a person known as “the false prophet,” as much as he is China. Firstly, the term the false prophet replaces the second beast at least thrice in the Apocalypse (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). Especially in Apoc. 16:13, we read that “the false prophet” has been put in parallel with “the dragon” and “the beast.” The three form the aforementioned Unholy Trinity. Since “the beast” here is in singular form, we can understand that this term means only the first beast, with “the false prophet” being the second beast. Secondly, the false prophet in the Apocalypse is always written in singular form in Biblia Vulgata, as pseudoprophetae in the genitive case or pseudopropheta in the nominative case. Just as the seven heads of the first beast are said to be seven individual kings, the second beast or the false prophet should also pinpoint a particular individual person.

We do not in any way suggest that there can be only one false prophet throughout human history. The Old Testament mentions multiple false prophets in history (e.g. Jeremiah 14:11ff.). When Our Lord said “Beware of false prophets” (Matt. 7:15), Vulgata uses the ablative plural case falsis prophetis. Most founders of false religions in history can be categorised as false prophets as well, especially Muhammad, the false prophet and founder of Islam. However, the false prophet of the Apocalypse is evidently the false prophet, a particular man who would “[cause] the earth,…to adore the first beast” (Apoc. 13:12), the anti-Christian ideas in the end times as well as the Vatican II Counter-Church.

We argue that this person was none other than the man named Jorge Mario Bergoglio, also known as “Pope” Francis. Like all the illegitimate popes since John XXIII, Bergoglio had been a notorious heretic since before his invalid election to the “papacy,” with no signs of repentance being shown*. The errors and heresies of “Pope” Francis certainly deserve a book of their own. In relation to the topic of this blog, the false papacy of Francis forcibly enforced many revolutionary changes introduced by the heretical council of Vatican II. Francis also developed the religious indifferentism and false ecumenism upheld by the Vatican II Counter-Church to their finest. He taught repeatedly against the evangelisation of infidels, Protestant heretics, and Eastern “Orthodox” schismatics, who need to be evangelised and converted to Catholicism in order to avoid the eternal and unquenchable fire in hell. In his final years, Francis even notoriously professed that “All religions are paths to God,” and “they are like different languages that express the divine.” Moreover, Francis single-handedly sanctified nearly every single illegitimate pope of the Vatican II Counter-Church, including Antichrist John Paul II. Just as China causes the earth to adore modern anti-Christian ideas, “Pope” Francis caused the earth, particularly former Catholics, to idolise the end-time counter-church, the great harlot, as well as its past leaders, thus having fulfilled the prophecy of Apoc. 13:12.

The false papacy of Francis was also closely associated with China on an unprecedented level. On 22 September 2018, the “Holy See” under “Pope” Francis reached a “Provisional Agreement” with the socialist regime of China. Although the agreement is said to be “provisional,” it has been extended multiple times, and there seems to be no limit on how many times it is to be extended. This secretive concordat is the manifestation of the commonality between the Vatican II Counter-Church and the socialist regime of China, that they both endorse religious indifferentism, the synodality (or democratisation) of the “Church,” and the localisation (or Sinicisation) of Catholicism. Although the agreement is said to regard the appointment of “bishops,” in practice, it allows the Vatican II Counter-Church to be fully sanctioned by the government of China, and brings all Catholics in communion with the Counter-Church and repaganised Rome, thus allowing the false religion of Vatican II to be promulgated in China with the sanction and, in some cases, even the endorsement of that country’s totalitarian government. If anything, such a concordat has intensified the persecution against true Catholics in China, who reject the legitimacy of the heretical council of Vatican II, the Vatican II Counter-Church, and its “popes.” True Catholics in China, the “orthodox believers and professors of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith” (Te ígitur), now not only have to face the discrimination and defamation from the increasingly populous Vatican II Sect in that country. We must also endure the constant threat of arrest, persecution, and torture at the hands of China’s totalitarian regime. This fulfils Apoc. 13:15, “that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast, should be slain.”

* We waited until the death of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to finish this blog, hoping for a miraculous “last-minute repentance” on his part, which would effectively disprove our thesis. However, there is absolutely no evidence as of now that Bergoglio ever repented of his errors and heresies until his death on April 21, 2025.

Conclusion

This humble blog should be sufficient to identify the second beast of the Apocalypse with China and “Pope” Francis, the false prophet, inasmuch as the first beast indicates both repaganised Europe and Antichrist John Paul II. Although this blog does not constitute a doctrinal declaration, it stands as a fruit of prayerful discernment and sound reasoning, in keeping with the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that “natural reason should minister to faith.” Having been vouchsafed such grace to understand what is written here, we must remain vigilant against China, its philosophy and spirituality, its culture and customs, its hard and soft power, as well as the Vatican II Counter-Church, lest our names be blotted out of the book of life (cfr. Apoc. 3:5).