Holy Empire, Silicon Throne: The JD–Thiel–Opus Alliance and the Coming Technocratic Theocracy
A New Axis of Power is Here
What do Peter Thiel, JD Vance, Opus Dei, and Project 2025 have in common?
More than shared ideology, they form a coordinated power bloc merging religious authoritarianism, corporate capital, and surveillance-state technology.
As of January 6, 2025, JD Vance serves as the Vice President of the United States, marking the rise of a theocratic-technocratic alliance within the executive branch.
With the passing of Pope Francis, a significant opportunity has emerged for ulterior motives to take hold.
This is not a hypothetical situation; it is currently unfolding.
JD Vance: From Appalachian Atheist to Catholic Candidate
JD Vance wasn’t always Catholic. Raised Protestant and self-described as an atheist in adulthood, his shift began after encountering Peter Thiel, who introduced him to René Girard, the French Catholic philosopher known for his theory of mimetic desire and scapegoating1.
Thiel, a longtime admirer of Girard, encouraged Vance’s intellectual and spiritual transformation. Their bond deepened as Thiel poured financial backing into Vance’s political career, helping launch him from author to Senator to Vice President2. Vance's conversion to Catholicism in 2019 gave him not just a new faith, but access to global Catholic networks with immense political ambitions3.
Opus Dei: The Clerical Core of the Right’s Long Game
Opus Dei, the ultraconservative Catholic order once associated with Franco’s Spain, has long played the long game in elite recruitment. While its influence in the Vatican has waned under Pope Francis, its power in American right-wing politics has grown, primarily through think tanks like the Heritage Foundation4.
Kevin Roberts, the president of Heritage and an Opus Dei adherent5, now spearheads Project 2025, a sweeping authoritarian policy initiative that proposes:
Eliminating civil service independence
Recriminalizing abortion and targeting LGBTQ+ Americans
Militarizing the executive branch with loyalty tests
Expanding the death penalty
Dismantling public education in favor of state propaganda6
This is Catholic integralism, American-style.
Peter Thiel: Tech Oligarch Turned Ecclesiastical Kingmaker
Peter Thiel isn’t Catholic himself, but he sees the Church as a valuable vehicle for order, hierarchy, and submission. His investments into surveillance systems (Palantir), political candidates (Vance, Blake Masters), and ideological projects (anti-democratic thinkers like Curtis Yarvin) all orbit the same goal: a post-liberal state run by elites, not elections.
Thiel’s Palantir powers ICE, border surveillance, predictive policing, and data fusion centers7. In a Project 2025 world, those systems don’t just support policy; they are policy.
The Girardian Glue: Mimetic Violence and the Sacred Order
Girard’s theory, which influenced both Thiel and Vance, argues that societies are held together through scapegoating, by identifying a "problem" class, expelling it, and restoring order. For the modern American right, those scapegoats are immigrants, queer and trans people, feminists, leftists, and secular institutions.
It’s no coincidence that Project 2025 seeks to criminalize dissent and enforce “order” through religion, law, and data. This is the Girardian order taken to its fascistic extreme.
Vatican Watch: The Death of Francis and the Succession Stakes
With Pope Francis’ death, the battle over his successor is already underway.
Opus Dei is deeply invested in this outcome, especially after Francis revoked their voting power in the next conclave8. Their current senior cardinals are over 80 and ineligible to elect the next pope9.
The stakes are global. An American Catholic power bloc, bolstered by Thiel’s capital, Vance’s office, and Roberts’ institutional pipeline, is now positioned to fill the vacuum.
This Isn’t a Theory… It’s a Convergence
From Vatican intrigue to AI surveillance, from Catholic theocrats to Silicon Valley billionaires, we’re witnessing a deliberate merging of religious power, technological control, and authoritarian governance.
It’s not “church and state”, it’s church as state.
Theocratic enforcement. Corporate rule. Techno-dystopia.
And they now sit one heartbeat from the presidency.
https://romana.org/en/44/in-brief/paris-france-the-church-in-the-face-of-violence/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/business/silicon-valley-christianity.html