The Antichrist is `eco activist vegetarian'

By Silvia Guzzetti CARDINAL Giacomo Biffi sparked controversy this week when he predicted that the Antichrist would be a conunitted vegetarian, environmentalist and philanthropist.
Speaking at a conference commemorating 100 years since the death of the Russian philosopher, Vladimir Solovev, the robust Archbishop of Bologna said that environmental and social causes could be never served as a substitute for true religion.
According to the Cardinal, the Russian philosopher, who became a Catholic at the end of his life, anticipated in his depiction of the Antichrist some features of the confused spirituality of today's society.
"The Antichrist, according to Solovev, is a committed spiritualist. an admirable philanthropist, a strict vegetarian, a determined and active proanimals campaigner," the Archbishop of Bologna said.
These features represent, according to Cardinal Biffi, a watered-down version of the Christian message. Solovev — dubbed the Russian Newman" and hailed by the Pope in his encyclical Fides et Ratio — anticipated that morality in the 20th Century would lose its connection to the Scriptures.
The Antichrist, Solovev anticipated, would not display an hostility in principles towards Christ. On the contrary, he would appreciate his teaching, but he does not believe in his bodily Resurrection.
Cardinal Biffi said Solovev's greatest merit was his keen insight into the 20th Century. He distrusted the optimistic spirit of his age, sensing that socialism could he a dangerous ideology.
Cardinal Biffi's attack on fashionable environmentalism drew criticism in England. Edward Echlin, of Christian Ecology Link, said the Cardinal contradicted Jesus' insistence on the love of all creatures, including animals and "all creation".