Don’t argue with the Devil, he’s too clever, warns Pope

VATICAN CITY: The Devil is more intelligent than mere mortals and should never be argued with, Pope Francis has warned.

Satan is not a metaphor or a nebulous concept but a real person armed with dark powers, the pope said in forthright remarks made during a television interview.

‘‘He is evil, he’s not like mist. He’s not a diffuse thing, he is a person. One must never converse with Satan – if you do that, you’ll be lost,’’ he told TV2000, a Catholic channel.

‘‘He’s more intelligent than us. He always pretends to be polite, that’s how he enters your mind, but it ends badly if you don’t realise what is happening

"One must never converse with Satan - if you do that, you'll be lost."

Pope Francis

in time. [We should tell him] go away!’’

Three years ago, Francis told a global convention of exorcists that they were doing a sterling job in combating ‘‘the Devil’s works’’.

The pope frequently refers to the Devil in his homilies, sermons and on Twitter, where he is followed by 40 million people in nine languages.

‘‘It’s a Jesuit thing. He’s a Jesuit who is deeply imbued with the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, which allow people to discern the movements of the good and bad spirit,’’ said Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican analyst and the author of The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.

‘‘For him, this is real, these are not metaphors. It may not be the way that people speak nowadays and some Catholics may be taken aback by it. A lot of people are uncomfortable with the idea of evil being real, but anyone who knows the spirituality of the Jesuits will not be surprised.’’ – Telegraph Group