satan

ROME — Conversion and growth in holiness are often a “painful process,” Pope Francis said Sunday, because they demand spiritual warfare.

The battle between good and evil is at the heart of the Christian life, Pope Francis told pilgrims Sunday, which means resisting the devil, God’s “quintessential opponent.”

Pope Francis urged Christians Sunday to discern carefully between God’s voice and the devil’s voice in their lives, insisting that Satan “seduces” while God “consoles.”

The devil always goes to extremes in his attacks on Christians, Pope Francis said Wednesday, either through the soft-sell of worldly glory and comfort or the violence of enraged persecution.

Pope Francis turned back to one of his favorite topics—the devil—Sunday, urging his hearers never to enter into dialogue with Satan.

A sheep was stabbed to death in a village in southern England, following a string of mysterious ‘Satanist’ animal killings in the area.

Lionsgate has agreed to co-produce The Devil’s Light, a supernatural thriller featuring a young American nun with a gift for casting out demons in the male-dominated world of exorcisms.

The superior general of the Jesuits declared this week that Satan is not a real person but a symbol of evil acting in the world, sparking a sharp rebuke from the world’s exorcists.

“There is an evil in our life, which is an indisputable presence,” Pope Francis told pilgrims Wednesday as he continued his reflections on the Lord’s Prayer.

Would-be expellers of demons have flocked to Rome in droves this week for a course on “exorcism and deliverance prayer,” an interdisciplinary program aimed at battling Satanic forces.

Pope Francis told a group of young people Sunday that the devil is not a fairy tale but truly exists, and that he is their “biggest enemy.”

Those who spend their time accusing the Church show themselves to be friends and family of the devil, Pope Francis said Wednesday.

Catholic clergy are facing a “mushrooming demand for exorcisms” in the last few decades, a new report declares, whose effects can be felt worldwide.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) hit back at actor Christian Bale on Sunday after he called her father “Satan” during his Golden Globes acceptance speech on Sunday.

A pair of Florida middle school girls who said they wanted to become “Satanists” were apprehended before unleashing a plot to murder their fellow students, police say.

The devil’s mission is always to destroy, Pope Francis said Friday, but his worst assaults are not frontal attacks, but subtle, “well-mannered” persuasion.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was “normal, educated normally, open to marrying, to starting a family,” states Pope Francis in a new book-length interview that is sending shock-waves through the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has called upon all Catholics to pray the rosary and the prayer to Saint Michael the archangel every day during the month of October to protect the church from the devil.

Pope Francis has doubled down in his insistence that accusations and cries for justice and accountability are fruit of a diabolical spirit, saying Thursday that the only legitimate accusation is against oneself.

Only to the extent that a person is able to say “no” to the devil can he say “yes” to Christ, Pope Francis told pilgrims in his weekly audience on Wednesday.

Pope Francis, during an address on Wednesday that he packed with references to spiritual warfare, urged Christians to combat the devil and all the forces of evil.

Students learning to cast out demons were told to expect Muslims among their future clients at a week-long course on exorcism in Rome this week.

Hundreds of students, mostly Catholic priests, have arrived in Rome to attend an annual Vatican course on exorcism, the ancient practice of casting out demons.

A Catholic priest who has been performing exorcisms for ten years says that demand for exorcists is on the rise as more and more pastors become convinced that the devil is real and needs to be fought.

The “malign power” of Satan is always in our midst, Pope Francis has asserted in a new teaching letter, and “poisons us with the venom of hatred, desolation, envy and vice.”

In reaction to reports that Pope Francis has denied the existence of hell, the Vatican has released a carefully worded statement that does not refute the substance of the claims.

According to recent reports, the number of people in Italy calling on exorcists for assistance to fight demonic activity has tripled, reaching nearly a half million per year. In a recent interview, Sicilian exorcist Father Benigno Palilla told Vatican Radio

Lent is the time when we are called to stand up to Satan and “vanquish” him with God’s help, Pope Francis told pilgrims.

The demand for exorcists “has risen exponentially” in Ireland thanks to a surge in demonic activity, according to exorcist Father Patrick Collins, who has called on the nation’s bishops to train more priests to fight the devil.

Bullying those who are weaker than we are is the fruit of original sin and “the work of the devil,” Pope Francis told the assembly gathered for his morning Mass on Monday.