CCC 675

Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.⁵⁷³ Cf. Lk 18:8; Mt 24:12. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth⁵⁷⁴ Cf. Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20. will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. the supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.⁵⁷⁵ Cf. 2 Th 2:4-12; I Th 5:2-3; 2 Jn 7; I Jn 2:1 8, 22.