Pope John Paul II reminded Catholic youths that they should take the Devil seriously. In a letter, he wrote: “You should not be afraid to call the first worker of badness by his name: the Evil One. He has used and continues to use the tactics of not revealing himself.”

Likewise, cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in Rome, stated: “Whatever the less discerning theologians may say, the devil, as far as Christian belief is concerned, is a puzzling but real, personal and not merely symbolical presence. He is a powerful reality.”

Giving the matter worldwide scope, the Paris daily International Herald Tribune wrote: “The interest in Satan’s possible presence in Turin is only part of a broader discussion within the Roman Catholic Church about the personification of evil referred to variously in Scripture and church teaching as ‘the prince of this world,’ ‘the power of darkness,’ the ‘ancient serpent,’ the ‘slanderer.’”