Pope Francis says the devil is behind the sex abuse crisis. He is alive and well and “working overtime” to undermine the Church.
Francis is asking all Catholics for their help in driving Satan away.
“The Church must be saved from the attacks of the malign one, the great accuser, and at the same time be made ever more aware of its guilt, its mistakes, and abuses committed in the present and the past.”
During the past year, one abuse scandal after another has hit world headlines.
To name a few, these include:
- revelations of over 300 clergy being accused of sex abuse in Pennsylvania
- the ongoing McCarrick-Vigano accusations
- the Australian Royal Commission that reported numerous instances of abuse by clergy and religious, and the Chilean abuse scandal involving Bishop Juan Barros
- arrests, trials and convictions of clergy of all ranks, often featuring senior clergy.
Francis also believes the devil is behind the divisions in the Church at present.
Media reports suggest his choice of words in calling the devil “the great accuser” is also a reference to one of his harshest conservative critics, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was the Vatican’s former ambassador to Washington.
Last month Viganò accused Francis of knowing about sexual misconduct by a former US cardinal with male adult seminarians but not doing anything about it.
According to the Daily Mail, Viganò has complained Francis compared him “to the great accuser, Satan, who sows scandal and division in the Church, though without ever uttering my name.”
Francis is calling on all Catholics to pray the rosary each day this month and to conclude it with the prayer to St Michael the Archangel.
Michael is mentioned several times in the Bible as the leader of the angels who ousted Lucifer, the fallen angel, from paradise.
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