Robert Hugh Benson's Lord of the World delivers a stark warning of the dangers of secular humanism. Written in 1907, the novel chronicles the rise of the Antichrist in a dystopian future, where God has been abandoned and humanity itself has become the object of worship. Percy Franklin, one of the few Catholic priests left, finds himself putting everything on the line for the faith that is now a crime punishable by death.
Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis recognized the prophetic character of this novel, which depicts the ultimate consequences of a secular "new world order." What promises peace and progress in reality brings only destruction and despair, and in the face of such evil can stand only one opponent: the Catholic Church.
