In his homily to the vast crowd of devotees assembled at St Peter’s Square at the Vatican last Sunday, Pope Francis mentioned the devil by name (il demonio).

This was the first in a long time that I have heard Satan being mentioned by a Pope or by priests in a homily. Satan doesn’t seem to exist anymore for most of us, including the clergy. However, according to Christ in the Gospels, he is a very real reality, destroying lives, relationships, communities and nations. Christ talks of unclean spirits, of satanic possession in extreme cases, of convulsions and curses. In fact, many of His miracles deal with ridding unfortunate people of the devil.

The devil’s fruits are unbelief, envy, addiction, anger, murder, disunion, disintegration of one’s personality and psychology, sadness, guilt, depression, despondency, despair and more, like pride, arrogance, greed, disregard towards poor people.

Maybe, in this day and age, we had better watch out for the devil and his sinister fruits. “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.”

And with prayer (and fasting) may we enjoy God’s saving grace.