Blessed Joachim of Fiore about the two Beasts

Blessed Joachim of Fiore (d. 1202), Expositio in Apocalypsim:

“… it seems plausible that, just as the beast rising from the sea will have a great king of his sect, like Nero and as an emperor over the whole world, so the beast rising from the earth will have a great prelate, like Simon Magus, and as a universal pontiff over the whole earth; and this one will be the Antichrist of whom Paul says that he exalts himself and opposes everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God, presenting himself as God (2 Thess 2:4).”