akable focus of Christ's teaching. Yet contemporary Catholic preaching ignores it, leaving it almost exclusively to Protestants and to the growing number of believers in private revelations or alleged Marian locutions.

"This book does not intend to further multiply such messages," writes Fr. Livio Fanzaga, notable Rome-educated theologian and founder of Europe's largest Catholic radio network, Radio Maria. Instead, Fr. Livio seeks to acquaint ordinary Catholics with the biblical and Church teachings necessary to evaluate various kinds of speculation about the end of the world, to read the signs of the times and recognize the evils of our age, to prepare ourselves spiritually for the end whenever it may come," and to discern the answers to such urgent questions as:

• What will be the "supreme religious deception" that will lead countless Catholics to abandon their faith?

• Will the Antichrist be a clerical traitor? A religious leader? A politician? A collective phenomenon? Some combination?

• How will the Antichrist succeed in posing as the friend, even protector, of the Church -- while seducing her members?

• Which of us will be most vulnerable to seduction?

• Will the Antichrist's appearance coincide with the end of the world?

• Which prophetic visions or private revelations about the end times fall within the bounds of right doctrine, and which don't?

Drawing numerous prophetic insights from Hugh Benson's Lord of the World and Vladimir Soloviev's Tale of the Antichrist -- which he carefully evaluates in the light of Scripture, magisterial teaching, and recent history -- Fr. Livio compiles a persuasive and vivid portrait not only of the Antichrist, but of the world as it will be when it welcomes him.