Leon Fortunato

Leon Fortunato
Left Behind character
First appearance	Left Behind
Last appearance	Glorious Appearing
Created by	Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Politician
Title	Global Community Supreme Commander
Religion	Catholicism, later Carpathianism
Nationality	Italian

Leonardo "Leon" Fortunato is a fictional character in the Left Behind series of Christian novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. He is in fact the False Prophet, and he is a key member of the inner circle of Nicolae Carpathia, businessman, financier, politician, and Antichrist.

In his native Italy, Leon grew up fascinated with the trappings of Catholicism, although he never truly believed in any of the Church's teachings; Leon simply liked the pomp and circumstance. He was fond of dressing in ornate and flowing robes and strutting all over his college campus. After being expelled, Fortunato grew fond of becoming a kingmaker, preferring to work behind the scenes to elevate his chosen candidates to any positions of power they wanted. Carpathia, wanting to enter politics himself, employed Leon on his staff, and grew to value the older man's counseling; although Leon tended to be clingy and sycophantic, he taught Carpathia humility (or more specifically, how to feign humility) which proved to be very valuable on the world political stage.

When Carpathia created the Global Community, he appointed Leon to the position of Supreme Commander, the deputy to Nicolae's Supreme Potentate.

Throughout his relationship with Carpathia, Fortunato continues to fawn over the man, a fact that seems to be driven home when Leon died in the Wrath of the Lamb earthquake. He had been buried and crushed in the rubble of the GC headquarters complex and his mother was calling him home, when he heard a voice - Carpathia's - calling out: "LEONARDO, COME FORTH!" in imitation of a command that Jesus Christ gave to Lazarus. Leon is revived, and then becomes more faithful than ever to Carpathia, believing that Carpathia is a god incarnate. Like Nicolae, Leon regularly communicated with the 'spirit world'; it is implied that both men shared the same spiritual 'guide' - Satan himself.

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Wikipedia