When I began praying to St. Michael with my parishioners after every Mass, I didn’t realize that there was some issue with the translation. The prayer I had said for years asked the archangel to “thrust into Hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.” Some people say “cast into Hell” and others that the evil spirits “wander through the world for the ruin of souls” instead of “prowl.” Once, at a presbyteral council meeting in my diocese, the bishop, apparently indifferent or at least unopposed to the practice, mentioned that many priests said the prayer publicly after Mass, and a young priest asked, “thrust or cast?” but the bishop did not hear him.
There is a USCCB publication, “Rebuke the Devil,” which prints many collated remarks of His Holiness Pope Francis about the devil (FYI: he hates him). In the book, the pope recommends the St. Michael prayer, and the paperback has it printed on the back cover just like I say it. Which is as it should be.
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