Never underestimate the devil, he’s smarter than we are, pope warns
Satan is real and more intelligent than human beings, says Francis. 'He will turn your head'
Never underestimate the devil.
That was the advice Pope Francis gave Wednesday, on TV2000, a Catholic television channel.
“He is evil, he’s not like mist. He’s not a diffuse thing, he is a person,” the pope said.
“I want to say something about which I’m convinced. With Satan, you cannot have dialogue. If you start a dialogue with Satan, you are lost.
“He is more intelligent than we are and he will turn you around, turn your head, and you’re lost.”
The pope said the devil always behaved politely. “With us, the priest, the bishops, he is polite, he comes in like this,” but things ended badly if people failed to recognize who it was.
Pope Francis, a Jesuit, refers more frequently than his immediate predecessors to the Prince of Darkness.
He has recommended to priests not to hesitate resorting to local exorcists if they witness great spiritual disorder from their side of the confessional.
During a mass in memory of a French priest, Jacques Hamel, who was murdered by Islamic extremists in his own church in July 2016, Francis said it was “satanic” to kill in the name of God.
Hamel’s last words were reportedly “Get out, Satan!”
AFP contributed to this report.