SECTS AND SATANIC CULTS- 5
Satanic
rites in the Church's judgement
by
Bishop Angelo Scola
Bishop
emeritus of Grosseto, Italy Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome
The legacy of the modern age, which has seen,
if not the defeat, at least a drastic reduction in the claims of rationalism,
presents us with an unexpected explosion of the sacred.
Secularization had been proclaimed as the
reduction of Christian thought to "worldly", "nonreligious"
terms. Today, however, the most varied forms of the sacred are springing up,
which could be defined as naturalistic, inasmuch as they find answers to the
religious sense in an understanding of nature (of the universe and of man)
which, almost in the manner of the pre-Christian era, is once again regarded as
something divine in itself (theta physic).
Gods and demons populate the universe of this
new irrational polytheism, paradoxically cultivated by the extraordinary tools
offered by science and technology.
No longer to believe in God does not mean to
believe in nothing, but instead to believe in everything. This well-known
insight of Chesterton well describes the condition of many people today. Having
abandoned the Christian faith, and disappointed by the claims of Enlightenment
reason, they find themselves defenceless before reality.
They are unable to free themselves from the
anguish of a radical loneliness when confronted with the world and with time.
To-overcome this anguish they resort to magic, which would allow them to gain
the protection of occult powers, and they do not refrain from seeking an
alliance with these same powers of evil.
For this reason magical practices
proliferate, and even some Christian faithful participate in satanic groups
that promote worship openly contrary to the Catholic religion. Regarding this
state of affairs the Church, particularly her Pastors, is called to make a
clear judgement, made possible by a renewed proclamation of the victory of
Christ over Satan, sin and death.
To explain the Church's position and
magisterial teaching regarding the problem of satanic cults, without neglecting
to underscore their danger and their incompatibility with the nature of
Christians faith and morals, this topic will be developed as follows: 1. the
newness of Christian worship; 2. the reality of Satan and of his snares against
men; 3. satanic rites in the judgement of the Church; 4. possible consequences
of participating in satanic rites.
1. The newness of Christian worship
"I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Rom 12:1). Christian
worship, the work of Christ the Priest, with which man becomes associated,
displays a very special character which radically distinguishes it from every
other form of worship. It can never be reduced to pure ritual or pious
practice. Adoration of God, in fact, which culminates in the celebration of the
sacraments, is realized in its fullness only in the offering of one's own life
as a sacrifice pleasing to the Father.
What
is the basis of the originality of Christian worship?
It is the Christ event: "This Jesus
"God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of
God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has
poured out this which you see and hear. Let all the house of Israel therefore
know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you
crucified" (Acts 2:32-33, 36).
In a free and gratuitous way, before all
ages, the Father decided to let men participate in his divine life, conforming
them to Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Through this plan of salvation, he has given
being to all things, visible and invisible, and among them to man, created in
his image and likeness, and called to a supernatural life.
With the sin of Adam this "original
order" has not changed, but its redemptive character has been revealed.
The eternal Son of God has become incarnate,
and, in the paschal mystery (death, resurrection, ascension and gift of the
Holy Spirit), he has completed the work of justification.
It reaches men of all times
through the Church, with her seven sacraments. Justification, according to
well-known New Testament terminology, gives birth to sons in the Son: "For
all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we
cry, 'Abbe! Father!', it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit
that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs" (Rom 8:14ff.).
The sacrament of Baptism, intrinsically
oriented to the Eucharist, effects this supernatural rebirth in the believer
and brings him to new life in Christ, making him capable of meritorious acts.
In
fact, the power and beauty of Christ's work is manifested, in a certain sense
visibly, in the new life of the baptized, which is characterized above all by
the three theological virtues: faith, hope and charity.
Adherence to Jesus Christ in the obedience of
faith, the practice of a fruitful charity towards God and neighbour, and the
hope that the mercy of God will grant us the fullness of eternal life, which is
already an object of present experience as a pledge, are the characteristics of
the lives of the saints, those privileged representatives of the existential
newness which Christ brought to the world.
The existence of the Christian (en Christoi),
being in itself the new worship, reaches its culmination in acts of worship in
the specific sense. The Second Vatican Council, speaking of the liturgical
celebration, recalls the teaching of Scripture and Tradition in this regard:
"Every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the
Priest and of his Body, which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all
others.
No other action of the Church can equal its
efficacy by the same title and to the same degree" (Sacrosanctum
Concilium, n. 7). In fact the act of worship, which for the Christian can be
directed only to God, fundamentally has the form of a "response" to
the gratuitous initiative of the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy
Spirit.
In it all three theological virtues are at
work, and they in turn involve all the constitutive dimensions of the person.
2. The reality of Satan and his snares
against men
Within
this framework we can speak, seriously and without falling into exaggeration,
of satanic rites: a poisonous tree that grows in soil polluted by magic.
Above all we must not forget that the Church,
on the one hand, has always reproved an excessive credulity in this matter,
energetically denouncing all forms of superstition, such as the obsession with
Satan and demons, and the various rites and forms of evil involvement with
these spirits.
On the other hand, with wisdom, she has been
wary of a purely rationalistic approach to these phenomena, which in the end
identifies them only and always as mental imbalances. The ecclesial attitude
down the centuries has been characterized by a serene stance of faith.
As St. John Chrysostom reminds us: "It
certainly gives us no pleasure to speak with you about the devil, but the
doctrine which this enables me to speak of will be quite useful for you"
(De diabolo tentatore, Hom. II, 1).
Twenty years ago it was not rare to encounter
theological works denying the existence of the devil and of his real work of
entrapping men.
It reached the point that Pope Paul VI felt
the need to present again the Church's faith in this regard at the General
Audience of 15 November 1972: "Evil is not merely a lack of something, but
an effective agent, a living spiritual being, perverted and perverting. A
terrible reality. Mysterious and frightening.
It is contrary to the teaching of the Bible
and the Church to refuse to recognize the existence of such a reality, or to
regard it as a principle in itself which does not draw its origin from God like
every other creature: or to explain it as a pseudo-reality, a conceptual and
fanciful personification of the unknown causes of our misfortunes".
These words summarized the constant teaching
of the Magisterium of the Church (5th-6th cent.: DS 286, 291, 325, 457 463;
13th cent.: DS 797; 15th-16th cent, DS 1349, 1511; 17th cent.: DS 2192, 2241,
2243-2245, 2251; 20th cent.: DS 3511), especially that of the Fourth Lateran
Council of 1215, whose content has been analyzed carefully by the document The
Multiple Forms of Superstition, published under the auspices of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (26 June 1975).
The pronouncement of Lateran IV, against the
Albigenses and the Cathars, states: "The devil in fact, and the other
demons were created naturally good by God, but they have made themselves evil.
Man then sinned at the suggestion of the devil" (DS 800).
John Paul II, in the cycle of catecheses on
creation (9 and 30 July, and 13 August 1986), affirmed the same doctrine, and
the Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses it with clarity: "Behind
the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to
God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.
Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in
this being a fallen angel, called 'Satan' or the 'devil'. The Church teaches
that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: 'The devil and the other
demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their
own doing"' (CCC, n. 391).
It is therefore unthinkable to deny real
existence to a being created by God. We have to note, however, that the
Catechism, following the whole Tradition of the Church, speaks of the devil in
a subordinate role in salvation history, in the context of creation and
original sin. This choice undercuts any possibility of a dualism that would put
Satan at the same level with God. Salvation history is not the struggle of
equal forces between the God of mercy and the father of lies.
It is entirely defined by the omnipotence of
the Father who sent his Son "to destroy the works of the devil" (1 Jn
3:8).
There is only one principle of being and,
therefore, there is but one possibility of victory: the whole work of Satan is
overshadowed, from the beginning, by defeat. "The power of Satan is,
nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he
is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of
God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his
kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries— of a
spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature—to each man and to
society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and
gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that
providence should permit diabolical activity, but 'we know that in everything
God works for good with those who love him' (Rom 8:28)" (CCC, n. 395).
Although
he is defeated, Satan does not stop putting the sons of God in difficulty, so
that the victory of Christ awaits its incontrovertible manifestation in his
Parousia. He who has been called the murderer from the beginning (cf. Jn 8:44)
continually ensnares the faithful so that they will separate themselves from
their Redeemer.
"It would be a fatal error to act as if
history could already be considered to be resolved, as if the Redemption had
already obtained all its effects, without it being necessary any more to commit
oneself to the struggle which the New Testament and the masters of the
spiritual life speak of" (The Multiple Forms of Superstition, op. cit.).
The Christian life possesses
an intrinsic dimension of struggle from which no one can be spared. St.
Augustine speaks of two cities in opposition to one another, and St. Ignatius
of Loyola, a great master of the spiritual life, has left us in his book of Exercises
the famous meditation on the two standards, which vividly expresses the
Christian's struggle.
In fact, the salvation of man
cannot be automatic because it takes his freedom into account.
If it were not so, it would
inevitably be considered by us an extrinsic- factor, not "suited" to
our person, whose trademark is precisely freedom.
But the experience of finite liberty
introduces, in this pilgrim state (status viatoris), the possibility of error
which can reach, because of sin, the point of rebellion against the Supreme
Good. Man, in the exercise of his freedom, can choose a finite good, treating
it as if it were the Absolute Good.
It is in this context of limited and wounded
human nature that the discussion of the action of the Evil One and his
temptations and seductions must be situated.
3. Satanic rites in the judgement of the
Church
The
ordinary action of Satan consists in leading us into sin, which is a culpable
loss of freedom.
The teaching of the Second Vatican Council
sheds light on this situation: "For when man-looks into his own heart he
finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which
cannot come from his good Creator.
Often refusing to acknowledge God as his
source, man has also upset the relationship which should link him to his last
end; and at the same time he has broken the right order that should reign
within himself as well as between himself and other men and all creatures.
Man therefore is divided in himself.
As a result, the whole life of men, both
individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one,
between good and evil, between light and darkness" (Gaudium et spes, n.
13).
Concentrating
now on the phenomenon of satanic rites, it is good to remember how varied are
the circumstances which can lead a person to engage in these practices, as;
well as what varied forms and names they assume according to the trends and
means to which they refer. Literature providing the most complete description
possible of the phenomenon is not lacking today even among Catholics.
Our goal is limited simply to presenting the
judgment of the Church's faith and morals on satanic cults.
The
repeated statements of Sacred Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments,
are constant as to the illicit character of Satanic worship.
At the heart of the Bible's condemnation is
the awareness that it entails a denial of the one true God. In fact, it is the
lordship of God over his people that is at stake: "I, I am the Lord, and
besides me there is no saviour" (Is 43:11).
In establishing his covenant with the people,
the Lord had warned: "You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve him,
and swear by his name.
You shall not go after other gods, of the
gods of the people who are round about you; for the Lord your God in the midst
of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against
you and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. You shall not put the
Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah" (Dt 6:13-16).
Salvation history puts Israel in a very
special relationship with the Lord, who has revealed himself as the true God,
the only God capable of freeing and saving man.
The
Old Testament condemnation remains intact in the New Testament. In fact, at the
very beginning of Jesus Christ's mission it is taken up with vigour: "Then
Jesus said to him, 'Begone, Satan!
for it is written, "You shall worship
the Lord your God and him only shall you serve"'" (Mt 4:10).
Jesus' contest with Satan and sin, his cures
and miracles, his death and resurrection liberate man from the demonic powers,
from evil and death.
The apostolic writings forcefully take up the
condemnation of sorcery: "Now the works of the flesh are plain:
immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife,
jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness,
carousing and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that
those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal
5:19-21).
The
teaching of the Fathers of the Church, especially in the first centuries of
Christianity when magical and satanic rites were rife, is unanimous in this
regard. The words of Tertullian may be cited here: "One must not even
speak of astrologers, witches and charlatans of every sort. And yet, recently,
an astrologer who declared himself a Christian had the nerve to make a defence
of his profession! Astrology and magic are base inventions of the devil"
(De idolatria, IX, 1).
Or there is the testimony of St. Cyril of
Jerusalem: "Some have had the impudence to scorn the Creator of paradise,
adoring instead the serpent and the dragon, images of him who caused man to be
expelled from there" (Sixth Baptismal Catechesis, n. 10).
In
no period in the history of Christianity has the Church's judgement been
different. Satanic cults belong in the category of idolatry, because they
attribute powers and divine qualities to one who is not God and is the
"enemy of the human race". These are acts, therefore which separate
one radically from communion with God, because they imply man's free choice of
Satan instead of the one God.
We are faced with a sin against the first commandment
of God's law (cf. CCC, nn. 2110ff.).
The
proclamation of the redeeming power of the risen Christ, the essential content
of the apostolic kerygma, is replaced with "techniques" and
"rites" by which one seeks to gain, for oneself or for others, the
protection of the evil one. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks in this
way: "All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or
demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to 'unveil'
the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of
omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all
conceal a desire for power over time history and, in the last analysis, other
human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers.
They contradict the honour, respect and
loving fear that we owe to God alone" (CCC, n. 2116).
There
is another aspect of satanic cults which we cannot overlook. It would not be
difficult to identify a certain Manichean vision of reality, perhaps
unconscious, in the conceptual world of those who practice these rites.
In fact, to attribute to Satan what belongs
to God alone implies, at least in practice, the positing of two principles at
the foundation of the world and of time, at war between themselves and seeking
worshipers. Nothing could be more foreign to the Catholic faith than this kind
of Manicheism.
The repeated declarations of the Church's
Magisterium (as in the controversy with gnosticism, or that with the Cathars
and the Albigenses in the medieval period), have always stressed that the devil
is a creature, and that the origin of evil lies in his will and in the free
will of men.
However,
it is not only faith that is violated in these practices. Christian hope is
also radically offended, in that whoever does such actions entrusts his present
and eternal salvation to demonic powers rather than to God.
We must not forget that those who worship
Satan act against charity, because they put themselves at the disposition of
his work of destruction.
It
is sufficient to think of the moral degradations that normally accompany
satanic rites.
The whole man, and his Christian character
based on the theological virtues, is at stake in this worship. In this case, we
are not confronted with the simple weakness of human nature, but with a free
and radical decision against God, which must, objectively speaking, be
considered a mortal sin.
Furthermore,
while leaving to canon lawyers their proper task, it is appropriate here to
recall that satanic rites frequently contain sacrilege (particularly against
the Eucharist) as an integral part of their ritual.
For this reason it is necessary to point out
that "a person who throws away the consecrated species or who takes them
or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose, incurs an automatic (latae
sententiae) excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See" (Code of Canon
Law, can. 1367).
This shows the gravity of such practices. It
does not mean, however, that there is no possibility of pardon, under specified
conditions.
4. Possible consequences of participating in
satanic rites
Participation
in satanic sects and cults leaves man ever more defenceless before Satan.
Although remaining firm in the conviction of
our faith that Satan has no power over the eternal salvation of man if man does
not permit it, nevertheless we cannot consider that the freedom of man
(especially freedom in a state of sin) is omnipotent before the snares of the
devil.
The more a person participates in these
practices, the weaker and more defenceless he finds himself.
In
this sense it can be supposed that those who belong to satanic sects risk
becoming more easily the prey of realities such as "witchcraft", the
"evil eye", "diabolical disturbances" and "demonic
possession".
In the case of both witchcraft and the evil
eye, in fact, we cannot exclude a certain participation of the evil deed in the
world of the demonic, and vice versa (cf. Tuscan Episcopal Conference, A
proposito di magia e demonologia. Nota pastorale, 1 June 1994, n. 13).
The
extraordinary actions of Satan against man are of a different nature, permitted
by God for reasons known to .him alone., Among these we can cite: physical or
external disturbances (instances of which are given in the lives of many
saints), or local infestations of houses, objects or animals; personal
obsession, which throws the subject into a state of despair; diabolical
vexations which correspond to disturbances and illnesses that can reach the
point of making one lose consciousness and induce one to perform actions or
speak words of hatred towards God, Jesus and his Gospel, the Blessed Virgin and
the saints; and, finally, diabolical possession, which is the gravest
situation.
In this case, the devil takes possession of
an individual's body and uses it for his own purposes, without the victim being
able to resist (cf. Tuscan Episcopal Conference, op. cit., n. 14).
All these forms, however mysterious, cannot
be treated only as situations with a pathological cause, as if they all were
always forms of mental dissociation or hysteria. The Church's experience shows
us the real possibility of these phenomena.
In
these cases, Holy Church has recourse to exorcism, whenever the presence of
Satan is certain.
The Catechism reminds us of this ecclesial
practice: "Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the
liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus
entrusted to his Church.
Illness, especially psychological illness, is
a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science.
Therefore, before an exorcism is: performed, it is important to ascertain that
one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness"
(CCC, n. 1673).
The celebration of this sacramental, reserved
to the Bishop or to ministers specifically chosen by him, consists in the
reaffirmation of the victory of the risen Christ over Satan and his dominion (CIC,
1172).
Together
with exorcisms, the Church's new Book of Blessings also provides blessings
which show the splendour of the salvation won by the risen Christ, already
present in history as a new principle of transfiguration for the life of man
and of the cosmos.
They are appropriate for the comfort and aid
of the faithful, especially when it is not certain that they are subject to
satanic influence. They are included, therefore in the Christian community's
normal practice of prayer.
We
cannot forget, however, that the fundamental resource against Satan's wiles is
the Christian life in its "everydayness": faithful membership in the
ecclesial community, the frequent celebration of the sacraments (particularly
Penance and the Eucharist), prayer, active charity and joyful witness to
others.
These are the principal ways for the
Christian to open his heart in fullness to the risen Christ so as to become
conformed to him. They are the tangible signs of God's mercy towards his
people, and they have the power to redeem repentant man, whatever his sin.
Against
the action of the Evil One which leads one to despair of salvation the Father
never denies his pardon to those win-a seek it with a sincere heart. The more
the Christian community is faithful to its evangelizing mission, the less the
Christian will have to fear the devil. His freedom can be entirely entrusted to
the One who conquered Satan.
The person who has discovered Jesus Christ
has no need to seek elsewhere for salvation. He is the one, true Redeemer of
man and the world.
Taken
from the February 26, 1997 issue of "L'Osservatore Romano". Editorial
and Management Offices, Via del pellegrino, 00120, Vatican City, Europe,
Telephone 39/6/698.99.390.
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