<div dir="ltr"><p><a href="http://crisismagazine.com" target="_blank">crisismagazine.com</a><br></p><p>Last Friday, in what was surely a very striking <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/07/05/benedict_xvi_joins_pope_francis_in_consecrating_vatican_to_st_michae/en1-707709" target="_blank">and dramatic papal act, Pope Francis </a><u><b>blessed
a dramatic sculpture depicting St Michael the Archangel</b></u> battling with
the devil; but<u><b> he did a lot more than that: he placed the Vatican City
state and all who live and <a href="http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/pope-enlists-st-michael-in-reform-of-curia?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrisisMagazine+%28Crisis+Magazine%29#" style="text-decoration:underline" title="Click to Continue > by CouponDropDown" target="_blank">work</a> there under the archangel’s protection.</b></u> This is what he said:</p>
<blockquote><p>In the Vatican Gardens there are several works of art.
But this, which has now been added, takes on particular importance, in
its location as well as the meaning it expresses. In fact it is not just
a celebratory work but an invitation to reflection and prayer, that
fits well into the Year of Faith. Michael—which means ‘Who is like
God’—is the champion of the primacy of God, of His transcendence and
power. Michael struggles to restore divine justice and defends the
People of God from his enemies, above all from the enemy par excellence,
the devil.</p>
<p>And <u><b>St. Michael wins because in him, it is God who acts</b></u>. This
sculpture reminds us, then, that evil is overcome, the enemy is
unmasked, his head crushed, because salvation was accomplished once and
for all in the blood of Christ. <u><b>Though the devil always tries to
disfigure the face of the Archangel and that of humanity, God is
stronger</b></u>, it is His victory and His salvation that is offered to all
men. <u><b>We are not alone on the journey or in the trials of life, we are
accompanied and supported by the Angels of God,</b></u> who offer…. their wings
to help us overcome so many dangers, in order to fly high compared to
those realities that can weigh down our lives or drag us down. <u><b><i>In consecrating Vatican City State to St. Michael the Archangel, I ask him to defend us from the evil one and banish him.</i></b></u></p></blockquote>
<p><u><b>Pope Francis’s focus on the devil has aroused comment in the secular
press</b></u>, of course, and not without reason. <u><b>The secular mind thinks it
shows either that he is some kind of religious maniac, or at the very
least that he is quaintly old-fashioned</b></u> in his language. What it
actually shows is his knowledge that<u><b> we are all, in our lives, in a
continual battle against evil</b></u>. This is a constant focus of the Holy
Father’s thinking and teaching. As Sandro Magister wrote recently,
<u><b>Francis “refers to [the devil] continually. He combats him without
respite. He does not believe him to be a myth, but a real person, the
most insidious enemy of the Church.”</b></u> And <i><b>now he has invoked the
protection of the Holy Archangel over Vatican City itself, and has
prayed that he will banish the evil one from its purlieus</b></i>. He sees that
there is, unfolding in that place, a struggle between good and evil. I
recently quoted those telling words of his: “… it is difficult. In the
Curia, there are also holy people, really, there are holy people. But
there also is a stream of corruption, there is that as well, it is true…
The ‘gay lobby’ is mentioned, and it is true, it is there… We need to
see what we can do….”</p></div>