By LifeSiteNews (Politics) | Created at 2026-08-14 16:31:32 | Updated at 2026-08-14 17:43:09
1 hour ago
Fri Aug 14, 2026 - 12:24 pm EDT
(LifeSiteNews) — A Brazilian bishop has attacked consecration to St. Michael the Archangel while suggesting that the devil is “rather imaginary.”
“Are there theological justifications for Consecration to Saint Michael? Consecration is to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” wrote Bishop Vicente Ferreira on X last week. “Isn’t the devil we fight against rather imaginary?” he added.
“The greater exorcism should be: of homophobia, of femicide, of racism, of crimes against indigenous peoples. Of that legion of evils,” he concluded, in a statement originally written in Portuguese.
The tweet appears to be aimed at another Brazilian bishop. On the same day as Ferreira’s statement, the archbishop of Montes Claros, José Carlos Campos, consecrated his archdiocese to St Michael.
Ferreira was slammed for his denigration of devotion to St. Michael, who is invoked for spiritual defense against the devil by Catholics because he was given power by God to cast the devil and his followers from Heaven.
“What is your religion? You should convert to Catholicism,” wrote one X user. “At your age, worrying about these woke idiocies isn’t going to get you to heaven. You should be concerned with saving your soul.”
One social media user remarked, “For this Bishop, the Church is not in communion with the saints; the Apostolic Nuncio should be aware of this Bishop’s posts. There are already 34 dioceses dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel in Brazil.”
Ferreira’s claim that the “fight” against the devil is “imaginary” completely defies the Church’s tradition as conveyed through Scripture and Catholic doctrine. The heterodox bishop has also publicly claimed that there is a “biblical communism.”
Exorcist Father Chad Ripperger has advised invoking St. Michael for protection against demonic activity. In an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Ripperger recounted that he prayed to St. Michael for protection after he encountered a woman who he believed had attempted to curse him.
Dom Vicente Ferreira is bishop of the Diocese of Livramento de Nossa Senhora in the state of Bahia, Brazil.
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