How Should Today’s Catholics Think about Satan?

First, Pope Francis does not allegorize Satan. “We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea,” he wrote in his 2018 encyclical “Gaudete et Exultate” (“Rejoice and Be Glad”), which contains quite a bit of demon-talk. “This mistake would lead us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end up more vulnerable.” Next, he urges Christians not to relegate the devil to antiquity. For example, in 2014 he warned: “Watch out, the devil exists! The devil exists even in the 21st century. And we must not be naïve. We must learn from the Gospel how to battle against him.”