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In the 1994 Catholic Almanac on page 158 there is "the list of men who claimed or exercised the papal office in an uncanonical manner." These men tried to substitute themselves for the true Pope, and usurp that office, so to speak. The Catholic church denies the papal authority of the men on that list because they attempted a substitute (false) claim on the Papacy. That list is a list of ANTI-POPES! So the word anti can clearly mean a substitute for something.

Fury - I'm not sure where the word "anti-pope" is used in the Catholic Almanac. It depends on the context used as to how the prefix "anti" is construed. But using the New American Dictionary, "anti-" does not have a possible meaning of "substitute":

anti- or ant- pref. 1a. Opposite: antimere. b. Opposing; against: antiapartheid. c. Counteracting; neutralizing: antacid. d. Destroying: anti-aircraft. 2a. Inverse: antilogarithm. b. Displaying opposite characteristics: antihero.

"Anti-." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th Ed. 2000.

Antichrist then, 'could' be correctly interpreted then, as someone who substitutes himself for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, just as an antipope substituted himself into the office of the Papacy.

"Vicar of Christ . . . Title used almost exclusively of the Bishop of Rome as successor of Peter and, therefore, the one in the Church who particularly takes the place of Christ; but used also of bishops in general and even of priests. First used by the Roman Synod of A.D. 495 to refer to Pope Gelasius; more commonly in Roman curial usage to refer to the Bishop of Rome during the pontificate of Pope Eugene III (1145-1153). Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) asserted explicitly that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ; further defined at the Council of Florence in the Decree for the Greeks (1439) and Vatican Council I in Pastor Aerternus (1870). The Second Vatican Council, in Lumen Gentium , n.27, calls bishops in general "vicars and legates of Christ." All bishops are vicars of Christ for their local churches in their ministerial functions as priest, prophet, and king, as the Pope is for the universal church; the title further denotes they exercise their authority in the Church not by delegation from any other person, but from Christ Himself."

Source: Catholic Dictionary, Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Editor, published by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, 1993, pp. 484-485.

Fury - It starts out with a presumption that is not proven - that Bishop of Rome substitutes for Christ. Let us address this further.

Now look up the word vicarious in almost any common dictionary. From Webster's New World Dictionary, Simon & Shuster, 1979

vi-car-i-ous adj. L. vicis, a change 1. taking the place of another 2. delegated 3. done or undergone by one person in place of another 4.felt as if one were actually taking part in another's experiences (a vicarious thrill)

vicar n. L. vicis, a change 1.a deputy 2. Anglican Ch. a parish priest who receives a stipend instead of the tithes 3. Protestant Episcopal Ch. a minister in charge of one chapel in a parish 4. R.C.Ch. a church officer acting as deputy of a bishop

Fury - In reviewing the Lewis & Short latin dictionary, vicarius, an adjective (vicarius-a-um) has several meanings:

the supplies the place of a person or thing;

substituted;
delegated;
vicarious

The noun vicarius -ii , a 2nd declension noun, masculine, means:

a substitute, deputy, proxy, a locum tenans, viceregent, vicar

And another noun vicaria -ae, a 1st declension noun, feminine, means:

a female under-slave, the post of deputy of the praefectus praetorio

All from Lewis, Charles, and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary.1st ed.Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1879.

A Vicar General is defined in the 1994 Catholic Almanac on page 330 as "a priest or bishop appointed by the bishop of a diocese to serve as his deputy, with ordinary executive power, in the administration of the diocese." So a vicar serves in the place of (substituting for) the bishop, and assumes his power of office for certain duties.

So the Papal title of VICAR OF CHRIST which in Latin is VICARIUS CHRISTI, means a 'substitute for Christ', which is synonymous with AntiChrist.

Fury - I believe it's inaccurate to claim that that Vicar of Christ means "substitute for Christ", because, as demonstrated above for vicarius-a-um and closely related words, there are several meanings, depending on the context of the phrase. It would be akin to saying that if someone refers to a "man" as gay, it means he is homosexual, when the speaker really meant the man is gay as in happy, cheerful.