Devil's advocate

Origin and history

During the canonization process employed by the Catholic Church, the 'Promoter of the Faith' (), popularly known as the Devil's advocate (advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by Church authorities to argue against the canonization of a candidate. It was this person's job to take a skeptical view of the candidate's character, to look for holes in the evidence, to argue that any miracles attributed to the candidate were fraudulent, and so on. The Devil's advocate opposed 'God's advocate' (advocatus Dei; also known as the 'Promoter of the Cause'), whose task was to make the argument in favor of canonization. During the investigation of a cause, this task is now performed by the 'Promoter of Justice' (promotor iustitiae), who is in charge of examining the accuracy of the inquiry on the saintliness of the candidate. The Promoter of the Faith remains a figure in the Congregation of the Causes of Saints and is also known as the Prelate Theologian.

The office was established in 1587 during the reign of Pope Sixtus V. The first formal mention of such an officer is found in the canonization of St Lawrence Justinian under Pope Leo X (15131521). Pope John Paul II reduced the power and changed the role of the office in 1983. In cases of controversy, the Vatican may still seek to solicit the testimony of critics of a candidate for canonization. One notable example of this was in 2003, when author Christopher Hitchens, an atheist and outspoken critic of Mother Teresa, was interviewed as part of her beatification hearings.

Effectiveness

Psychologist writes that inauthentic dissent (assigning someone to act as a Devil's advocate) is considerably less effective in improving group decision-making than authentic dissent. She also writes that inauthentic dissent can cause people to become more entrenched in their original beliefs, the opposite of the intended purpose e.g. in businesses that use this technique.

References

References

1. Helterbran, Valeri R.. (1 January 2008). "Exploring Idioms". Maupin House Publishing, Inc..
2. "Devil's advocate meaning".
3. Piasecki, Otto. "Otto Piasecki {{!}} Play the devil's advocate in the classroom".
4. Fanning, W.. (1911). "Promotor Fidei". Robert Appleton Company.
5. Gray, Jason A.. (January 2018). "The Evolution of the Promoter of the Faith in Causes of Beatification and Canonization of Saints: A study of the law of 1917 and 1983".
6. John Paul II. (1983-01-25). "Divinus Prefectionis Magister". [[Vatican Publishing House.
7. Burtsell, Richard. (1907). "Advocatus Diaboli". Robert Appleton Company.
8. Leung, Rebecca. (19 October 2003). "The Debate Over Sainthood". CBS News.
9. Hitchens, Christopher. (20 October 2003). "Mommie Dearest: The pope beatifies Mother Teresa, a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud.". Slate.
10. Charlan Jeanne Nemeth. (2018). "In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business". Basic Books.