—Wait a moment, please.

            Brother Peter felt it necessary to interrupt the Devil.

            —Wait…You are talking to me, and I just realized that I cannot believe anything that you are telling me. I have always been told that you are the Great Liar, indeed, the Father of all Liars.

            The Devil winced, let out a kind of snort, and stared at the friar.

            —What you have just said would flatter me were it not for the fact that it is true. I do not know if you realize that anything even remotely associated with truth vexes me. In any case, you humans will always be the same fools. Certainly, I always lie…except, of course, when it is convenient for me to tell the truth. I shall give you an example, even though I do not believe that you are capable of grasping it: the best way to deceive liars is to tell them the truth –and I have a multitude of disciples who are good at that. However, these last years I have come up with a better method; it is going to amaze you; listen carefully; it goes like this: I have taught this huge multitude of num skulls who follow and admire me to use words that sound pleasant to the ear and that refer to things which stir the admiration of those who do not think. It goes without saying that nobody nowadays practices the art of thinking, which favors my cause even more. Well then, all one has to do is to furtively change the meaning of words and, when possible, to insert in them the opposite meaning.

—Listen — continued the Devil.

—You will understand it right away. I have achieved this, for example, with terms like progressivism and culture. Thanks to my own and my experts’ investigations, you cannot imagine how greatly the number of idiots deceived by me has grown. Thanks to me, forms of behavior which are really despicable are now classified as progress; indeed, those who practice them truly do progress…toward my delightful dwellings, where I lovingly wait for them and prepare a welcome for them. As for culture –this time you can believe me when I tell you that even I, with all my knowledge, am amazed when I see how far human stupidity is able go—, you cannot imagine, what my bunch of Spanish friends, for instance, who call themselves intellectuals, consider to be culture. You humans are truly hopeless, aren’t you? To you all is gold, even if it does not glitter. In the campaigns which they tirelessly wage to further my cause, these, my Spaniard friends, are even able to make movies which I myself –imagine! with all my diabolical powers— am unable to bear. And then, on top of everything –if I could laugh I would; this actually is quite funny—, my friends of the North American branch have even granted some of them awards! Truly speaking, I can’t quite understand you…but I think we are digressing.

            The Devil cleared his throat and seemed to take a breath before he went on.

            —As I was telling you, my loathed Peter, sometimes I tell the truth; but only when it is convenient to me, of course, or when I think that I will obtain some advantage. Remember, for instance, when I told your Chief that I would give Him all the glory of this world, since it had been given to me, if He worshipped me (Lk 12:31). At that time I told the truth; and He Himself proved me right when He called me the prince of this world (Lk 12:31) which, on the one hand, flatters me, but, on the other, it [censured] me that both of us agree on something, even if only one thing.

            Satan’s enthusiasm seemed to go into crescendo. Brother Peter could not tell whether it was passionate fury or furious passion. He could not restrain himself:

            — Be careful, the friars are going to hear us!

            —Shut up, you silly, I am getting exited!

            —To keep changing the meaning of the terms…!—, continued the Devil, —But, what the heck! This has been my greatest success achieved in several centuries…! Can you imagine how much I have accomplished, thanks to this trick, since you had the idea of calling up the last Council? What do you think is the reason behind all this confusion and chaos caused in that freakish thing you call Church? Oh, boy! That is which I call profiting from something!

            Satan jumped, elated, and again let out a noise which Brother Peter could not recognize; or perhaps he felt ashamed of thinking what that growl could mean. Nevertheless, he took advantage of the brief pause and asked:

—But, Satan –may I call you that?—, you told me earlier before that you were going to organize with your most important collaborators a day of prayer. I do not understand; I still think that such an event is going to somehow contribute to fostering the faith of the people.

The Devil smiled what, for the first time, seemed to resemble a faint smile; then he burst into a guffaw.

—The faith of the people, you say?— He let out a new loud laughter which this time came accompanied by a number of cutting remarks that censure does not permit to transcribe here.

—Of course—, he continued, –we’ll be speaking there of God, of world peace, of understanding among men, of a good-for-everyone religion…My boy, all of this serves only one purpose: to feed the disbelief of the people! Can you imagine, for example, what it means to make people believe that an only good God exists who is easy-going with everyone; that He does not care whether men are good or evil, whether or not they answer the call of what you call His Love; that He is a God Who is willing to overlook any misbehavior, for Whom all religions are the same; that He considers whatever you humans do, good or bad, as something wonderful. If we can get people to believe this –and we will, because I have well-trained collaborators—, congratulations and [censured]…! Then and there we will have made the world believe in an idiotic God!

(To Be Continued)