The volume brings together two texts in which Agamben explores the same question: What political significance does the messianic theme of the end of times hold? In "The Secret of the Church," he approaches the issue by reconstructing the eschatological context surrounding Benedict XVI's resignation, without losing sight of the implications of this unprecedented step for the current political situation. On the occasion of being awarded an honorary doctorate in theology by the University of Freiburg in November 2012—three months before the Pope announced his intention to resign at the end of the month—Agamben had already engaged with the theme of the end of times in a lecture about the darkest passage of the Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. The revised version "Mysterium iniquitatis. History as Mystery" forms the second part of Agamben's work.