Daniel 7:20
And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
The four beasts and their horns are Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, and the papal power inherited the authority successively held by those empires. The horn among the ten horns is the Roman Church as a church, even before it gained civil power. The little horn is the papacy, which succeeded to the power and seat and great authority of ancient Rome when pagan Rome gave them to it, and it corresponds to the leopard-like beast in Revelation 13. Its dominion was taken away when French general Berthier entered Rome on February 10, 1798, and the pope was taken prisoner on February 15, which mark the close of the 1260 days and the removal of the little horn's dominion.
The prophecy figuratively portrays historical events leading to the close of earth's history, and the scenes connected with the man of sin are among the last features plainly revealed in that history. It belongs to Daniel's prophecies about events to come that were not fully understood even by Daniel and were to be understood in the closing period of world history. Among the prophecies of apocalyptic beasts, it portrays the deadly effects of uniting church and state, showing that such powers cruelly crush those who oppose them. As part of the vision of judgment and the powers represented by the beast's horns, it warns of God's judgments and calls people to heed the warning and turn to him.