Pope Francis by Fabrizio Maffei / Shutterstock.com (Left), Adobe Stock (Right)
CV NEWS FEED // Pope Francis denounced online pornography as the “language of the devil” in a September 25 general audience address, calling for Catholics to avoid Satan and his works through the grace and aid of God.
Pope Francis began his address by highlighting that Jesus can deliver people from Satan and that He casts out devils. Continuing, however, the pope noted that in present day, there is “a strange phenomenon regarding the devil.”
“At a certain cultural level, it is held that he [the devil] simply does not exist,” the Pope said, later adding:
And yet our technological and secularized world is teeming with magicians, occultism, spiritualism, astrologers, sellers of spells and amulets, and unfortunately with real satanic sects. Driven out the door, the devil has re-entered, one might say, through the window. Driven out of faith, he re-enters with superstition.
The Pope warned not to engage with the devil at all, and instead urged “distancing” oneself from the devil. Recalling a Church Father’s quote that after Christ’s victory on the cross, the devil has since been “bound, like a dog on a chain,” who cannot bite people unless they approach him.
Pope Francis said, “If you are a fool and you go to the devil and say, ‘Ah, how are you?’, and everything, it ruins you. The devil – distance. One does not converse with the devil. One banishes him. Distance.”
Pope Francis also warned of the devil’s work through online pornography, which is available through modern technology. He reminded that an improper use of technology allows for “countless means to ‘give an opportunity to the devil’” and fall into temptation.
“Think of online pornography, behind which there is a flourishing market: we all know this,” he said. “It is the devil at work, there. And this is a very widespread phenomenon, which Christians should beware of and strongly reject. Because any smartphone has access to this brutality, to this language of the devil: online pornography.”
Pope Francis concluded his address on a hopeful note, reminding the faithful: “Awareness of the action of the devil in history should not discourage us.”
“The final thought must be, also in this case, of trust and security: ‘I am with the Lord, be gone,’” he said. “Christ overcame the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit to make His victory our own. The very action of the enemy can turn to our advantage, if with God’s help we make it serve our purification … Beware, the devil is astute – but we Christians, with God’s grace, are more astute than him.”
