“I’m afraid of him, this is why I have to defend myself so much,” said Pope Francis about the devil

In a 50-minute talk with journalist Lorena Bianchetti, Francis spoke about the war in Ukraine and the current spiritual battle he is facing.

During the interview, given to the Italian channel RAI 1 during Good Friday, Pope Francis confessed that he is afraid of the devil and that he does different things to protect himself against him because “he is real.”

The pontiff revealed that being attacked by the devil in different ways is one of his fears and that’s why “he prays to St. Michael the Archangel so that he might help me conquer the devil every day.”

“I’m afraid of him, this is why I have to defend myself so much.” he revealed.

Speaking of war and the images that currently shock the world, Pope Francis referred to it as an action of the devil.

“But we live with this diabolic pattern of killing one another out of the desire for power, the desire for security, the desire for many things. But I think of the hidden wars, those no one sees, that are far away from us,” he said.

He also said that although some believe that it is a myth, “he believes in that reality” in which the devil is real.

“Going back to the devil issue, some say I talk too much about the devil. But it is a reality. I believe he exists, hey! Some say: ‘No, it’s a myth’. I do not go with the myth, I go with reality, I believe he exists,” he said.

“But it’s seductive. Seduction always tries to enter, to promise something. If sins were ugly, if they didn’t have something beautiful, no one would sin. The devil presents you with something beautiful in sin and leads you to sin.”

“The devil always seeks our destruction. Why? Because we are the image of God,” he warned.

And speaking of Holy Week, the pontiff said that one of the greatest dangers of today’s society is that it has fallen into worldliness and that for this, he prays a prayer to Miguel to help him fight the devil. 

Someone who listens to me can say: “‘But, your Holiness, you have studied, you are Pope, and do you still believe in the devil?’ Yes, I do, dear, I do. I’m afraid of him, that’s why I have to defend myself so much. The devil was the one who did all that maneuvering so that Jesus would end up like he did, on the cross. The powers of darkness over Jesus: ‘This is your hour,’ the powers of darkness,” he explained.

He recommended people to let themselves be moved and touched by Jesus and his suffering on the cross.

“Let your heart be touched, let Him speak to you with his silence and with his pain. Let him talk to you through the people who suffer in the world: they suffer from hunger, war, so much exploitation and all these things. Let Jesus speak to you, and please don’t speak to yourself. Be quiet. Let it be Him and ask for the grace to cry,” he concluded.

Believers know that both heaven and hell, God and satan are real. But despite the fact satan exists doesn’t mean we have to live in fear of his plans since we have the Lord in our hearts and He is our strength, our protection. He keeps us from all evil, and helps us overcome every obstacle in our lives.