The Deliverance Ne†work

15 November, 1972

“What are the greatest needs of the Church today?

Do not let our answer surprise you as being over simple or even superstitious and unreal: one of the greatest needs is defense from that evil which is called the devil.

Evil is not merely a lack of something, but an effective agent, a living, spiritual being, perverted and perverting. A terrible reality…

It is contrary to the teaching of the bible and the Church to refuse to recognize the existence of such a reality… or to explain it as a pseudo-reality, a conceptual and fanciful personification of the unknown causes of our misfortunes…

That it is not a question of one devil, but of many is indicated by various passages in the Gospel (Luke 11:21, Mark 5:9). But the principal one is Satan, which means the adversary, the enemy; and with him many, all creatures of God, but fallen, because of their rebellion and damnation; a whole mysterious world, upset by an unhappy drama, of which we know very little…”

“This question of the Devil and the influence he can exert on individual persons as well as on communities, whole societies or events, is a very important chapter of Catholic doctrine which is given little attention today, though it should be studied again. Some people think a sufficient compensation can be found in psychoanalytical and psychiatric studies or in spiritualistic experiences.

People are afraid of falling into old Manichean theories again, or into frightening divagations of fancy and superstition. Today people prefer to appear strong and unprejudiced…

Our doctrine becomes uncertain, obscured as it is by the darkness surrounding the Devil. But our curiosity, excited by the certainty of his multiple existence, justifies two questions:

1. Are there signs, and what are they, of the presence of diabolical action?

2. What are the means of defense against such an insidious danger?”

Origins, De. 7, 1972, Vol. 2, No. 24, P. 391-393