Pope Francis, at the very beginning of his papacy and repeatedly throughout, has unnerved many of the faithful with his references and cautions regarding the devil. Jesus Christ Himself refers to the devil as a “murderer from the beginning,” and “father of lies” (John 8:44). Notwithstanding these warnings, the music and entertainment industry have sometimes found it lucrative to dabble in the diabolical. In the 1960s The Rolling Stones sang about “Sympathy for the Devil,” and the 1978 hit “Running with the Devil” helped catapult the rock band Van Halen toward stardom. Al Pacino gave evil a face in the popular 1997 film “The Devil’s Advocate.”
The Fox Network is hoping to cash in on this macabre interest in evil with the premiere this January of its latest series, “Lucifer.” In a story line taken literally from a comic book, the devil becomes bored with his position reigning in hell. He decides, instead, to resign his post and help the Los Angeles Police Department expose sin among the California elite. The byline of the show: “He gives bad a good name.”
As Christians we do well to take our cue regarding Satan and evil not from the popular media but from the Sacred Scriptures, Jesus Christ and the Vicar of Christ on earth. As St. Paul tells us, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). It is not entertainment but the destruction of souls that is his primary objective.
