What Is the Devil Afraid Of?

Last year the ACI Prensa news portal published an interview with one of the best-known exorcists in the world: Father Gabriele Amorth. He is 88 years old and has some 70,000 exorcisms to his name. The first thing he said in the interview was that “the world has to know that Satan exists.” In his small, simple office in the southeast of Rome, where he has carried out thousands of exorcisms, the priest said that he sometimes calls on the help of holy men and women, among whom John Paul II stands out.

“During exorcisms I have asked the devil more than once: ‘Why are you so afraid of John Paul II?’ And I have had two different answers, both interesting. The first: ‘Because he upset my plans.’ I think he means the fall of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe. Another answer the devil gave me was: ‘Because he snatched many young people out of my hands.’ There are many young people who were converted thanks to John Paul II. Perhaps some of them were already Christians but not practicing, and then with John Paul II they returned to the practice of their faith.”

Asked who is the most effective intercessor of all, Father Amorth answered without hesitation: “Of course Our Lady is the most effective! Especially when you call on her as Mary! Once I asked Satan: ‘Why are you more frightened when I invoke Our Lady than when I invoke Jesus Christ?’ He answered: ‘Because it humiliates me more to be defeated by a human creature than to be defeated by Him.’”

The priest said that “to defeat the devil you need a great deal of faith, a great deal of prayer and a great deal of fasting. In the fight against the devil, faith is especially necessary. Often in the healings, too, Jesus does not say in the Gospel ‘I am the one who has healed you.’ Instead he says: ‘Your faith has healed you.’ He wants faith in people, a strong and absolute faith. Without faith you can do nothing.”

The priest, a member of the Society of Saint Paul, explained to ACI Prensa that “the devil and the demons are many and they have two kinds of power: ordinary and extraordinary. The ordinary power is the ability to tempt man in order to distance him from God and lead him to hell. This action is carried out against all men and women of every place and religion.”

As for the extraordinary powers, Father Amorth said that these are concentrated on a specific person, and that there are four kinds: “Demonic possession, which requires an exorcism; demonic oppression, like the kind suffered repeatedly by the holy Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who was physically beaten by the devil; obsessions, which lead a person to despair; and infestation, when the devil occupies a place, an animal or even an object.”

The priest warned that these cases are rare but on the rise. He also expressed his concern about the growing number of young people affected by Satan through sects, séances and drugs. Even so, he is not discouraged. “With Jesus Christ and Mary, God has promised us that he will never allow temptations greater than our strength,” he noted.

Finally, Father Amorth offered a brief guide for the fight against Satan: “The devil’s temptations are overcome first of all by avoiding the occasions of sin, because the devil always looks for our weakest points. And then with prayer. We Christians have an advantage, because we have the Word of God, we have prayer, and we can pray to the Lord,” he concluded.

I take this opportunity to recommend the film “The Rite,” which tells the true story of a young priest who did not believe in the devil and became the assistant of an experienced exorcist (played by the excellent actor Anthony Hopkins). It is a film that helps us understand the existence of the evil one, his influence on our personal lives and the reality of diabolical possession.