A Catholic priest, Chad Ripperger, warned that current global trends may be creating conditions some Christians associate with the rise of the Antichrist.

Speaking on the The Shawn Ryan Show, he argued that moral decline and increasing global instability resemble signs described by early Christian theologians.

Ripperger suggested the Antichrist would gain power primarily through control of global economic systems rather than traditional political rule.

He said technologies such as digital currencies or identification systems could potentially enable the kind of economic control described in the Book of Revelation, where people cannot buy or sell without the “mark of the beast,” the Daily Mail has reported.

While he stressed he cannot say these events are imminent, he believes rapid technological and societal changes could be moving the world closer to conditions described in biblical prophecy.