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Vatican: 'Devil Made Me Do It' Ain't Necessarily So
Bowing to changing times, Vatican theologians are revamping their views on the Devil.
Start Date: 2/10/99
Call him what you like: Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, the Evil One, the Prince of Darkness. He's been blamed for mischief for thousands of years and figures prominently in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. He started right out tempting Eve, bringing about the Fall From Grace. Later on, he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and Jesus in turn cast him or his minions out from many tormented souls. German theologian Martin Luther threw an ink bottle at him. The solemn ritual of exorcism for "demonic possession" was codified by the Catholic Pope Paul V in 1614 and has remained essentially unchanged ever since.
But now, according to a recent story in the London Times, the Vatican thinks it's time for a change. In keeping with modern views of human psychology, the idea of a demonic force external to the psyche is seen as outmoded and quaint. Monsignor Corrado Balducci, the Vatican's chief exorcist, says the Church now must "be more careful in distinguishing between possession by evil spirits and what are more commonly called psychiatric disturbances."
"In revising the form of words for exorcism, we have re-thought the nature of the evil we are trying to root out," a Vatican spokesman told the Times.
References to Satan, by whatever name, will remain unchanged in scripture, but the Vatican will henceforth advise priests to refer to "psychological disturbance" as the source of evil, rather than the person of the Devil. In particular, priests conducting exorcisms will be instructed to deal with evil as a force "lurking within all individuals" instead of one that threatens people from without.
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