As strange as it may sound, the Catholic Church believes in the devil more than the Church of Satan does – at least according to their public declarations. The Catechism is very definite about how Catholics should view the devil: “He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature” (CCC 395).
The Church of Satan on the other hand is more ambivalent. In 1966, its founder, Anton Lavey, proclaimed Satanism to be a philosophy – one that held individualism as one of its main values. “We are our own gods”, he announced. “A religion based on self-indulgence, carnality and pleasure, instead of self-denial.”
The official teaching of the Catholic Church is, and always has been, that Satan is an actual being, and not merely a philosophy, or “the absence of God” as some other Christian faiths promulgate. And She remains adamant that this reality is distinct from the psychological explanations provided by the medical profession. Yet how much of this belief is truly accepted by those of us in the pews, and even amongst our clergy?
Since the pre-Vatican II preaching of fire and brimstone and eternal damnation were replaced by a focus on God as a loving and merciful Father, reference to the devil seems to have gone the way of “witch-burning”, or more recently, “limbo”, and been lumped into the category of mediaeval, outdated thinking. Even the prayer to St Michael the Archangel, seeking protection from “the wickedness and snares of the devil”, routinely prayed at the end of every Mass since 1886, was dropped.
Evil personified was certainly not a subject that I remember being taught during my 13 years at a Catholic school in the 70s and 80s, nor preached at any of the churches I have since attended. And I cannot recall a conversation on the topic, whether with believing or secular company. It seems the subject is socially faux pas – an embarrassment to rational thinking – and therefore, best left alone.
Yet despite the reticence within both Catholic and secular circles to even address the topic, the understanding from the top echelon of the Church – that the devil is real and has the potential to wield power over individuals – has remained unaltered since the time of Christ. “When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcism and from Him the Church has received the power and office of exorcising” (CCC 1674).
In fact, according to Fr Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief Exorcist who claims to have performed over 70,000 of them, there has been an increased number of people in recent times approaching the Church to exorcise them of demonic influence.
This, he claims, is due to the growing number of people who, either willingly or inadvertently, are exploring spiritual realms within the New Age movement or are engaging in occult practices that the Church explicitly warns against. As a result, Pope Benedict has responded by encouraging Bishops around the world to specifically appoint and train more priests in the rite of exorcism.
It may seem paradoxical that, despite the waning of belief in the reality of the devil, the Church is upping the ante in Her fight against him, but it should, in fact, come as no surprise. We need only recall the prophetic words of 20th century US Archbishop Fulton Sheen who once said, “Satan never gains so many cohorts as when, in his shrewdness, he spreads the rumour that he is long since dead.”