679. In people who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. This symbolically means, in those clergy who live faith alone and accept the doctrine teaching it.

To have the mark of the beast means, symbolically, to acknowledge faith alone, to affirm it in oneself, and to live in accordance with it. And to worship its image means, symbolically, to accept the doctrine teaching it (see no. 602 above, also numbers634, 637).

To live in accordance with faith alone and to accept its doctrine means to attach no importance to living for the sake of salvation, and to attach no importance to the truth, believing that if people only pray to God the Father to have pity for the sake of the Son, they are saved.

The people who do this are especially those who know and acknowledge the interior tenets of the doctrine, as they are the subject here (see no. 677 just above).