Background
The idea of identifying a pope as the antichrist and the Catholic Church as the antichrist system is an idea that rose out of the Reformation. Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and others in the 16th century decried the pope as antichrist. This charge resulted from various immoral traditions that had crept into the papacy over the centuries. These included the selling of indulgences to pay for sins, turning a blind eye to pedophilia among priests, and prohibiting salvation outside the pope’s power. As grievous and anti-Christian as these sins might be, these actions do not have any resemblance to the reign that the actual antichrist spoken of in Daniel and the Book of Revelation will impose upon the world. The Lord warned us there would be many antichrists, and so there were. The Bible, though, is very clear that the final antichrist will be distinct from all previous versions. This idea of a papal antichrist took on renewed fervor through the Millerites and the Seventh Day Adventist writings in the 19th century and carries on in present times in a form of the historicist view of the Revelation to John.
Not My Job
Popes did not rule the Roman Empire. Until Constantine, pagan Caesars ruled. The supposed divinity of the emperor and the allegiance due him was the uniting factor in the empire. Then Christianity and monotheism replaced emperor worship which, ironically, weakened the empire as doctrines of the church were battled out, and the new identity of the faith under protection of imperial powers took shape. After that, various emperors or generals attempted to hold the western Roman Empire together. It finally fell in 476 A.D. The empire continued in the eastern Byzantine portion. In 800 A.D., Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, reorganized it as the Holy Roman Empire. He is considered the first Holy Roman Emperor. The history of this empire lasted until 1806 and fizzled out over the next century. Popes did have power to depose kings of the empire as heretics, but NO POPE WAS EVER IN POLITICAL OR MILITARY CHARGE OF THE EMPIRE. So, the precedent set indicates the antichrist will not be a pope. He will be the political/military leader of the EU or reconstituted Roman Empire. The only possible position that a pope could hold is as the second beast who has religious elements to his description. He makes the world worship the first beast, like Rome worshiped Caesar. Assuming the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, any pope of the Catholic Church would assuredly not be a true Christian. Here would be prime opportunity for a false religious leader to move in available to be manipulated by the powers of darkness.
The Antichrist Comes as a King
The antichrist will arise as a king, not a religious leader, from the revived Roman empire. Daniel’s vision of 4 kingdoms make this very clear (See Daniel 2, 7, and 8) These visions, given at different times repeat aspects of the same four kingdoms. The first kingdom is revealed in the vision in Daniel 2 as the head of the four parts of a large statue. This head is Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Daniel 2:38. The next two kingdoms are identified in a subsequent vision by the angel in Daniel 8. They are Medo-Persia and Greece, and the fourth kingdom conquers Greece, which we know from history as the Roman Empire, inferred in Daniel 8:23-25. According to Daniel and history, this king will arise during the time of the four horns, generals, who have split the kingdom of Alexander the Great. The ANTICHRIST comes as a king from this fourth empire MOVING TO THE SOUTH AND EAST towards the Beautiful Land (Israel), Daniel 8:9. That would be the direction of travel if you came from the Roman Empire. Daniel 7:23, “He gave me this explanation: ‘The FOURTH BEAST is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time (3 ½ years or the 2nd half of the Great Tribulation). —So, the vision extends on into the end times with further support from Daniel 9 and 12. In Daniel 9:26-27 the death of Messiah after 69 weeks of years is foretold. In addition, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is prophecied. This is followed by war and desolations until the end time when the abomination of desolation is set up in the middle of the postponed 70th week of Daniel. Chapter 12 of Daniel clues us into the last half of this seventieth week as declared to be at the time of the end. No other nation after the fourth, Rome, is spoken of in prophecy. The leader of the fourth kingdom is a king in the fashion of the previous kings, not a pope. The beast, known as antichrist, is seen in Daniel 7:23-25 as coming from this final kingdom. The Roman Empire and subsequently the Holy Roman Empire lasted until the 19th century and faded out in Germany and Austria until the 20th century. Israel was reborn. Prophecy is right on schedule. Rome is due to resurrect in some form during seal six of Revelation.
Other Antichrists of History
We have several examples in history of those who unknowingly attempted to take the reins of what could be considered the seat of the antichrist. The first candidate can be found in Antiochus III, the Hellenistic king of the Seleucid Empire and a Roman vassal. In 167 B.C., he attempted to gain power in Judea by obtaining the allegiance of the Hellenistic Jews in the land. He ordered an officer in his army to erect an altar to Zeus in the temple in Jerusalem and have a pig sacrificed on it. He had not counted on the subsequent Maccabean rebellion that followed, and his hold on Judea was brought to a swift end. Two millennia later, in the early nineteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte would dissolve the Holy Roman Empire and attempt to become emperor of Europe and beyond. Though he made many gains in his quest, he also suffered many losses. After a couple of grand comebacks, Napoleon finally succumbed to superior British forces and spent his last days in exile on the Island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. Finally, a little more than a century later, Adolph Hitler would rise to power and attempt again to create an empire out of Europe and beyond. He, as an antichrist figure unaware, attempts to annihilate the Jewish race from the face of the earth.
None of these three figures of history was a pope. All three were some form of a political or military leader. Religion was not their primary motivation in conquest of the lands of the former Roman Empire. When it is God’s time, He will allow a political and/or military leader to rise up in a time of world crisis who will fulfill the script of the antichrist prepared for him exactly as it was laid out in scripture.
Satan’s Folly
Interestingly, Hitler’s attempt to eliminate the Jews in the Holocaust could be considered as Satan’s attempt to take the end time narrative and slant the story his own way. Without the Jews, how could prophecy come to a completion in history? He could then declare himself victor over God’s plan and exalt himself once more an avoid the fateful end prepared for him according to scripture. Hitler was not to be the definitive version of the antichrist, and his ambitions were dashed by the allied powers in 1945. The ironic outcome of this conflict was rebirth of the nation of Israel three years later in 1948. Satan attempts to move the saga in his own direction while God has allowed it as misdirection to perform His ultimate purposes.