He has stated that it is up to Catholics to fight the devil back.
A month after
Pope Francis wrote an open letter to all Catholics regarding the "the abuse of power and of conscience at the hands of priests over a period of approximately seventy years" within the church, he has now laid the blame of that abuse at the feet of the devil itself.
In a prepared statement, Pope Francis said:
"(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."
While he doesn't use the term 'The Devil' directly, it is clear whom he is referencing when using the descriptors 'the malign one' and 'the great accuser'.
According to
The Australian Herald, he is so convinced that Satan is to blame for both the sexual abuse scandals and the divisions within the Church that he has enlisted the aid of spiritual big gun - 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.
If you're wondering how exactly he hopes to enlist the particular Saint, Pope Francis has called on all Catholics to say the rosary every day for the next month, and at the end of each rosary, to recite the following prayer to Saint Michael, which has fallen out of use since 1964:
"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls."
