A view of the baldacchino underneath the central dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
ACI Prensa Staff, May 26, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Monsignor Alberto Royo Mejía is the promoter of the faith in the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. His current function is, in fact, the same one that was formerly performed by the so-called “devil’s advocate” in the canonization processes.
When and why was this name changed? Who exactly is, in effect, the “devil’s advocate”?
ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, was able to speak in Rome with Royo, who holds a doctorate in canon law and is a priest of the Diocese of Getafe in Spain, where he has been judicial vicar, episcopal delegate for the causes of saints, and pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in the town of Parla, south of Madrid.
Origin of the term
Royo explained to ACI Prensa that the name “devil’s advocate” is actually a popular designation, since Sixtus V did not establish this function using this term but rather “he was called that because he had to be the ‘bad guy in the movie,’ after all.” The role of the “devil’s advocate,” now the promoter of the faith, is to prepare in writing all possible arguments against the canonization of the individual.
“In a civil or criminal proceedings it would be what we more or less know as the prosecutor: the one who has to search for the truth in a special way, because here the only thing we are looking for is the truth, as in every proceeding, as in every investigation,” he emphasized.
The Spanish priest thus defined the canonization processes as “an investigation” whose objective is “to discern the will of God about a candidate for the altars.”
The priest explained that in this discernment “it’s essential that someone help search for the truth, because sometimes due to excessive affection, devotion, distraction, or other types of reasons, the [candidate] can be presented in an inappropriate way, because research or historical documentation are missing.” And it’s because “all people have defects; there is no saint who does not have any defects.”
For these “defects” to come to light and be investigated, the “promoter of the faith,” the ancient “devil’s advocate” whose figure “emerged when Sixtus V established the Roman Curia,” is indispensable, he said.
However, the Spanish priest said that “today he is no longer called ‘devil’s advocate’ but rather the ‘prelate theologian.’ He continues to call himself a promoter of the faith, but the popular designation is no longer that of devil’s advocate — although the idea is the same.”
Evolution of the canonization process
In 1984, Pope John Paul II introduced a series of reforms to facilitate the canonization process and bring the system more in line with modern times.
According to the promoter of the faith, this was done “by a natural evolution of the process,” since, over the centuries, “the process had become increasingly legal and, nonetheless, the need was seen to also make it historic, since it was very similar to what the marriage annulment process or any process in the Church was like.”
“In fact,” he noted, “for centuries the work that the relators do today [which is a new figure that John Paul II established], was done by the auditors of the Rota, with which, between a process of canonization and a process of the Roman Rota [a tribunal] there was very little difference.”
Royo further explained that with the development of historical sciences, the need was seen to delve into the historical context of the causes.
“The development of psychological sciences also had a lot of influence. The psychology of a servant of God, of a candidate for the altars, influences the person… all of this was not taken into account before,” the priest explained.
For this reason, “a series of figures came into play who are today, for example, the relators,” he said.
“The relator is an intermediate figure between the diocesan phase, the material that arrives in Rome and the study done by the promoter of the faith.”
“The very valuable work of the relators is to prepare the cause,” he continued. “They already see the difficulties, the problems, and what must also be highlighted in each servant of God.”
According to Royo, the relators “systematize the work and, when it reaches the promoter of the faith, and therefore the theological consultants, the cause is already very refined and very prepared.”
“This has greatly expedited the causes,” he pointed out, since without this figure the process “was like a very tight funnel” in which the causes “were stuck … because only the promoter of the faith was in charge of studying them all.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Acts like this help us understand why there is the dreadful penalty of hell.
Vatican II’s declarations about Muslims and Islam are due for re-evaluation.
Nigerian Christians are facing a full fledged genocide at the hands of Islamic Fascists, and the world doesn’t care, and simply ignores it. Clearly some black lives really do not matter to the Mainstream Media.
Good thing Biden thinks there is no risk of religious persecution in Nigeria worth monitoring. Otherwise it could be a problem there.
Why does it seem like no one cares about the killing of Christians in Nigeria? Why is there no protection for them? Why aren’t the people who do this hunted and punished?
The people who did this are Fulani herdsmen, 99 per cent of whom are Muslims. They number 34 million and can be found everywhere from the Atlantic coast of West Africa to Ethiopia.
To put an end to the violence entails putting an end to Islam among the Fulani. That in turn demands that they be called to Christianity or removed in ways similar to those used against the Cathars.
Wait until the overturning of Roe vs Wade to see what happens to Catholics in the U.S. and the reaction of cowards like Cupich and McElroy. It’s like we are being attacked from within and without. Pray my brothers and sisters.
Science as well as faith help us to know how ‘small ‘ and interconnected we are – in the brothehood in The Mother ..havng read how the dust from the Sahara desert blows into S. America in the balancing of the eco system , we can also wonder how sins against life anywhere also invites in the agents of death and destruction, war and violence , lust and greed – esp. through those who have been blinded by Satan about the truth of the dignity and destiny of human life .
The interconections in these areas being ? willfully denied – the light shared in the powerful homily of the Holy Father on the need to love The Lord to be able to keep the commandments -the 24 Hour Passion meditations , the Flame of Love – adoring the Sacred wounds of our Lord , the indirect light from all such to flow into more hearts to help to love The Lord with His own Love in The Spirit …
Fathers charged to bring up the children in the discipline and instruction in The Lord (Eph 6 :4 ) – that to include fathers of nations too ..
The tears of The Lord and of The Mother shed for the slavation of each of us from the moment of their very beginnning as the Immaculate Conception and Incarnation and for every wound of sin and suffering of His children – to be offered up for all involved to help bring forth conversions as is done in the Holy Mass – to help break the walls around the hearts … along with use of other prudent measures as needed , as The Church continues to persevere in using the weapons given in The Mother ..
Hey, I don’t know what your comments have to with anything, but I do want to make sure that you know that Muslim terrorists killed Christian Nigerians yet again last Sunday. You would not necessarily know that from the four(!) CNA shorts on this story or the heartfelt condolences offered by the Holy Father. Nevertheless, it is seems pertinent.