With all due respect to the Sede trads out there, the Pope can't be the Antichrist. Totally impossible.
Putting "Catholic Pope" and "Antichrist" in the same sentence originated with the Protestants.
Protestant heretics think the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon, etc.
Such an interpretation of Scripture, Eschatology, etc. is COMPLETELY ANTI-CATHOLIC.
Before my conversion to the Catholic faith, I was the type of Reformed Protestant who still believed that Rome I was the Whore of Babylon, and that the Pope was the Antichrist. Its taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which was my confession of faith prior to my conversion.
And for this reason, I have a hard time with the notion held by (many, not all) Sedes who think the same thing, just about the "Novus Ordo Church" particularly, and the "Vatican II antipopes" or a subset of them.
Furthermore, the Bible says the Antichrist will claim to be God. I don't see any of that, either from John Paul II, or Francis, or whoever else. That doesn't mean I think these are good popes, but I have a really hard time believing the Reformed and Lutherans were basically correct on eschatology and were just wrong on timing.
On another note, I'm really curious about the alleged instance where a Novus Ordo priest was not able to perform an exorcism, but a CMRI priest would. Are there any sources on that?
And since someone mentioned apostolic succession, do the Eastern Orthodox attempt exorcisms, and do they generally work?