Posted on 08/24/2019 12:33:29 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
An international organization of Catholic exorcists said Thursday that the existence of Satan as a real and personal being is a truth of Christian doctrine.
“The real existence of the devil, as a personal subject who thinks and acts and has made the choice of rebellion against God, is a truth of faith that has always been part of Christian doctrine,” the International Association of Exorcists said in an Aug. 22 press release.
The organization’s release came in response to recent remarks on the devil from Jesuit superior general Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ, which the organization called “grave and confusing.”
The exorcists said they released their statement to provide “doctrinal clarification.”
Sosa made headlines earlier this week when he told Italian magazine Tempi that “the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality.”
The devil “exists as the personification of evil in different structures, but not in persons, because is not a person, is a way of acting evil. He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life,” Sosa said.
Citing a long history of Church teaching on the nature of Satan, including several citations from Pope Francis and his recent predecessors, the exorcists’ organization said that Catholics are bound to believe that Satan is a real and personal being, a fallen angel.
“The Church, founded on Sacred Scripture and on Apostolic Tradition officially teaches that the devil is a creature and a personal being, and she cautions those who, like Father Sosa, consider him only a symbol.”
Sosa’s remarks are “outside the ordinary and extraordinary-solemn magisterium” of the Church, the exorcists said.
The International Association of Exorcists is an “association of the faithful” formally approved by the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy in 2014. Among its founders was well known exorcist Fr. Gabrele Amorth, who died in 2016.
Sosa, 70, was elected the Society of Jesus’ superior general in 2016. A Venezuelan, he has a pontifical licentiate in philosophy and a doctorate in political science. He served as a Jesuit provincial superior in Venezuela from 1996 to 2004, and in 2014 began an administrative role at the general curia of the Jesuits in Rome.
Sosa has offered controversial comments about Satan in the past. In 2017, he told El Mundo that “we have formed symbolic figures such as the Devil to express evil.”
After his 2017 remark generated controversy, a spokesman for Sosa told the Catholic Herald that “like all Catholics, Father Sosa professes and teaches what the Church professes and teaches. He does not hold a set of beliefs separate from what is contained in the doctrine of the Catholic Church."
mohammad and his god allah (aka the devil) comes to mind
Satan’s handiwork has never been more commonplace or obvious. The best trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing people he didn’t exist.
And the Democrap party.
Yep and tagline
They don’t believe in God.
Ping
“The best trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing people he didn’t exist.”
The Devil exists at some level within us all.
But is man otherwise completely pure of heart but for the influence of some external “devil” (Flip Wilson style)?
If man weren’t inherently so bad, perhaps we would have to invent the devil - but we don’t need the devil - we have ourselves. The devil is us, and the evil we do.
Who listens to Jesuits? Heretics. Look at the dummy, commie pope. Dude’s an idiot.
Not true of ALL Jesuits (good guys like Fr. Joe Fessio, SJ, founder of Ignatius Press, come to mind.)
But that's certainly their widespread reputation, and for a reason.
My apologies to the few remaining Jesuits that remain faithful to their vows and keep their faith strong.
What will the preachers do when the Devil is saved?
-----Brother Dave Gardner
So who do they think tempted Christ? A feeling?
....BUT this seems relevant:
Boy your position won’t be popular but I agree with it.
Not saying there’s not a personal devil.
Just saying I agree with what you wrote.
Sosa's belief is in direct contradiction to Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium, but it's hard to imagine anybody in Rome launching a canonical heresy trial on him.
He needs an intervention, though. He ought to be picketed wherever he goes.
Did you try to put a link here? It didn’t come through.
I agree
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