Something very dark loomed over Paris – the self-proclaimed “City of Light” – at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, spreading this darkness across the globe.
The rider on the white horse of the Apocalypse
In the final part of the opening of this sporting event, a mysterious and intriguing rider rode swiftly on a silver mechanical horse down the Seine River to culminate his race at the Eiffel Tower.
According to the artistic director of the ceremony, Thomas Jolly, the image was “the incarnation of Sequana, goddess of the river and symbol of resistance.” In Gallic mythology, Sequana is the nymph of the sources of the Seine. Located in a park, a former Gallo-Roman sanctuary of Source-Seine, in the Franche-Comté of Burgundy, these fountains can still be visited and are the property of the city of Paris.
At the end of this walk along the Seine, the mysterious and dark character, who hid his face and was covered with a cape with the Olympic rings printed on it, arrived at the Trocadero, in front of the Eiffel Tower, on the back of a white horse, followed by the flags of the Olympic committees of the participating nations. All the nations of the world followed him.
Image from the broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo: Albert Cortina)In a ceremony where at times they played with esoteric and occult symbolism – as in all these mass events broadcast globally – and specifically with the ideology emanating from the woke culture (a clear example was the regrettable parody of the Last Supper, where Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist, the central mystery of the Christian Faith), it is disturbing what they really intended to show the world with these very controversial images.
Surely it escaped few people (or perhaps it did, given the lack of training in eschatology, a subject unknown to many Catholics in these times) that the rider on the white horse – one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse – could very well represent the Antichrist.
Indeed, for some interpreters of this biblical text, the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6 is not the same as the one in Revelation 19. The opening of the first seal in Revelation 6 gives way to the appearance of the Antichrist on the world stage. The rider on the white horse in that verse would be, according to this interpretation, the symbolic representation of the real appearance of the Antichrist.
On the other hand, Revelation 19 narrates the literal appearance of Jesus Christ in Heaven accompanied by his angels who give him glory and adoration, making known that his Name is the Word of God.
«Then I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and its rider was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written that no one knew except himself.” (Revelation 19, 11-13).
In an interesting book by Alfredo Sáenz, S. J. entitled “The Apocalypse according to Leonardo Castellani” (Fundación Gratis Date, Pamplona, 2005), the author clarifies that the name “Antichrist” was invented by Saint John. On the other hand, Saint Paul called him “Á-nomos”, the lawless one (Thes 2, 8). Finally, Christ called him “the Other” when he said: “For I came in the name of my Father, and you did not receive me; but Another will come in his own name, and you will receive him.” (Jn 5, 43).
For many contemporary Christians, it is unknown that the Antichrist, in his manifestation, will not be content with denying that Christ is God and Redeemer, but will set himself up in his place as the true Savior of humanity. He will even try to resemble Christ as much as possible. He will be “God’s ape,” Christ’s monkey. He will embody the substantial hypocrisy of the Pharisees of the first century, who were not only considered saints, but believed themselves to be such. He will combine presumed “virtues” and immense pride.
According to Father Sáenz’s essay, the Antichrist will carry out a worldwide synthesis of all the adversaries of Christianity, both in the East and in the West.
On the other hand, in the book on the Apocalypse, Castellani says that this character will succeed in creating a kind of collusion between capitalism and communism. Both seek the same thing, the same Earthly Paradise by means of “technique,” in order to deify man. The ideology that unites them is common: that of immanence, paradise on earth, hedonism without limits. “The somber doctrine of “Bolshevism” – writes Castellani – will not be the last heresy, but its preparatory and euphoric, “messianic” stage. Bolshevism will be incorporated, will be integrated into it.” This amalgamation of Capitalism and Communism into an all-encompassing unit will be precisely the feat of the Antichrist. “All the inhabitants of the earth will bow down before him” (Rev 13:8). It seems as if Father Castellani were describing with great precision the Globalitarianism or New World Order that is being imposed in our time.
Whatever may be the case with such hypotheses, for Father Sáenz and Father Castellani, the important thing is that «the Mystery of Iniquity, embodied in a political body endowed with immense powers, will be incarnated in that Man of satanic greatness, a brilliant and perverse plebeian, of refined evil, to whom Satan will communicate his power and his accumulated fury».
Thus, Sáenz adds in his commentary on the Antichrist: «In the ancient world, tyranny was fierce and devastating; and, nevertheless, that tyranny was physically limited, because the States were small and universal relations impossible at all. However, today, the paths are prepared for a gigantic, colossal, universal, immense tyrant… There is no longer any resistance, neither physical nor moral. Physical, because nowadays there are no borders, with the telephone and the Internet there are no longer distances. And there are no moral resistances, because all minds are divided and all particularisms are dead. Let us remember Benson’s Felsenburgh, and his dazzling accession to the throne of the world. Around him will gather all those whom Castellani calls the “oneworlders”, that is, “world-unists”, those who today support the New World Order.
Once he has taken the reins of power in his hands, the Antichrist will devote himself to his work, which in the eyes of the world will appear as “beneficial”.
He will put an end to wars, above all, by fulfilling the deepest desire of humanity, which is universal peace, a sacrilegious and deceitful peace, by the way, the peace of the world, stigmatized by Christ. Castellani believes that this world “concord” will be achieved above all through trade. Because modern trade, he writes, has something satanic about it. Capitalism enriches itself automatically, it does not expose anything; gold begets gold, as if it were a living thing, and this seems to be an invention of Satan. Trade is today the most important thing in international relations; everything else, including nations, seems to be epiphenomena, as Marx said.
According to Castellani, “the Antichrist will also solve economic and social problems, offering not only abundance but also equality, even if it is that of an anthill. He will thus correct his Rival, agreeing to the three temptations that Jesus once insisted on rejecting: “Tell these stones to become bread,” and he will feed the whole world; “throw yourself down from the Temple, so that everyone will applaud you,” and he will acquire universal renown through the media; “all the kingdoms of the earth are mine and I will give them to you if you worship me” (cf. Mt 4, 1-11), and he will receive them. This is what Dostoevsky saw so clearly in his “Legend of the Grand Inquisitor.” The Temptations, rejected by Christ, have remained suspended in the air until, with the Katéjon gone, they are formally accepted by the Vicar of the Dragon. He will also try to destroy what remains of Christianity, but taking advantage of its spoils. The rubble of public order, the remains of cultural tradition, the political and legal mechanisms and instruments, all of this will be used in the construction of the new Babel, the great and impious world confederation. How else could it be raised in such a short time? »
And Father Sáenz continues in his analysis of Castellani’s work: «He will persecute the Church especially harshly and kill the prophets, because he will see in them those who denounce his deceit, the spoilsports of collective happiness, the prophets of misfortune. But he will soon replace them with mercenary prophets, ready to sing of the maturity of the times, the charms of the wind of history, the fortunate tomorrows. He will be fond of fostering the spirit of immanence, and for this reason he will especially hate those who warn people by revealing to them the prophecies of the Apocalypse. And, obviously, he will not even want to hear about the Parousia.
For we must not forget, as Alfredo Sáenz points out, that the figure of the Antichrist is not primarily political, but theological. This is made evident by the goals that Scripture attributes to him: 1) he will deny that Jesus is the Savior God (cf. 1 Jn 2:22); 2) he will be received in place of Christ by humanity (cf. Jn 5:43); 3) he will deify himself (cf. 2 Thess 2:4); 4) he will suppress, combat or falsify other religions (cf. Dan 7:25). His project is, therefore, predominantly theological. The Mystery of Iniquity, which the Antichrist incarnates, is summed up in hatred of God and the adoration of man. Because, paradoxically, he whose mouth will utter blasphemies against everything divine (cf. Rev 13:5-6), on the other hand, will pretend to be worshipped as God (cf. 2 Thess 2:4). This will be the most serious thing. In this sense, Leonardo Castellani warns how modern times are making the bed for the Antichrist, relentlessly spreading the Idolatry of Man and the works of his hands.
In my opinion, in this final part of the ceremony of the Olympic Games, all this was expressed symbolically, so that it could only be understood by the initiated. In this way, Paris, the beautiful City of Light, was covered in darkness, and suddenly, a dense darkness could be felt by millions of inhabitants around the world who followed the “ritual” through the different global communication channels.
The Knight of the White Horse
However, we Christians know that on earth, the Antichrist’s days are numbered. The Apocalypse describes for us the final and definitive victory of Christ and the establishment of his Kingdom. He is the true Light of the world!
At the height of persecution, at the very apex of the Great Apostasy and the most frightful tribulation in history, when the faithful are almost at the point of fainting, according to the words of Christ himself: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8), the moment of victory will unexpectedly arrive.
He is the true “Light of the world.” (Photo: Albert Cortina)“Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse; the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war in righteousness” (Rev. 19:11). It is Christ who comes to depose his Adversary. “And the armies of heaven,” the text continues, “followed him on white horses, clothed in pure white linen” (ibid. 14). The prophet had already announced it when he said: “The Lord my God will come, and all the saints with him” (Zech 14:5), which Saint Jude confirmed in his epistle: “Behold, the Lord is coming, with thousands of his saints” (1:14).
Conclusion
I do not know if those who designed the story and the scenes of the mysterious and dark rider riding down the Seine on the mechanical horse and later parading on a white horse marking the pace for all the peoples of the world (represented by the flags of the different countries participating in the Olympic Games in Paris-2024), wanted to make a parody of the future manifestation of the Antichrist on Earth and his dominion over all nations.
This was clearly evident in the case of the crude and blasphemous parody of the Lord’s Last Supper, at another moment of the ceremony-ritual.
And the fact is that not even the technological light show given off by the Eiffel Tower managed to overcome that feeling of dense darkness that, however, was conveyed by the images we have analyzed above.
Of course, as a sign of hope, the beautiful Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Sacré Coeur), located on the top of the Montmatre hill, was resplendent and continued to illuminate the entire world from the city of Paris.
