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Halloween is 'dangerous' says the Pope as he slams 'anti-Christian' festival

By Nick Pisa
Last updated at 1:10 PM on 30th October 2009


Link to original

The Vatican today slammed Halloween as 'anti-Christian' and 'dangerous' for its links to the occult.

The October 31st ritual falls before the deeply significant Roman Catholic holy day of All Saints this Sunday.

The Pope's condemnation follows on from similar criticism from Catholic bishops in Spain who earlier this week urged parents not to let their children dress up as ghosts and goblins.

In an article entitled 'The Dangerous Messages of Halloween', the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano quoted liturgical expert Joan Maria Canals as saying: 'Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian'.

Father Canals urged parents 'to be aware of this and try to direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death.'

L'Osservatore praised a church at Alcala de Henares which had decided to hold a prayer vigil on Saturday night, and the Paris archdiocese's idea of having kids play a lucky dip dubbed 'Holywins' instead.

It added that: 'These and similar initiatives in South America allow Catholic communities to have an alternative to the feast, to bear witness to their faith and Christian hope in the face of death.'

The Catholic Church in Italy has taken a dim view of Halloween's growing popularity for years.

Last year, the Italian bishops newspaper Avvenire appealed for a full-blown boycott, describing Halloween as a 'dangerous celebration of horror and the macabre'.

Aldo Bonaiuto, head of the Catholic Church's anti occult and sect unit, warned parents of the dangers of children and said the event 'promotes the culture of death' and could spur 'pitiless (Satanic) sects without scruples.'

He added: 'Halloween pushes new generations towards a mentality of esoteric magic and it attacks sacred and spiritual values through a devious initiation to the art and images of the occult. At best, it gives a big helping hand to consumerism and materialism.'

The Vatican's criticism of Halloween comes after it praised the witches and wizards saga Harry Potter - an about face on earlier strong condemnation on the JK Rowling series.

[And now...]

[Gloriosae Dominae]

It's about time. I wonder if a child dressed like the devil brought up the gifts at the liberal NO Parish I am affiliated with. Last year the Celebrant thought Jesus would find that to be ironic and funny.

I was not amused.

[Sieveboy]

There are bigger fish to fry than this. Everybody loves a costume party, which is what Halloween is these days. Perhaps there's a little gluttony going on, not much else. Give it a rest.

[Conitor]

When did

[wrigleys]

The Daily Mail is rubbish and is notorious for spinning stories. NEVER READ IT. Even if it claims that grass is green, just take a look out just in case.

[Hark the Harold]

[dcs]

[apocalypta]

[Hark the Harold]

[quote="dcs"]

[penitent99]

The eve of All Saints Day has morphed into a month-long celebration of the pagan holiday Samhain. It gets visibly darker every year. I understand people are in denial, but come on guys, you really need to get real.

[amasimp]

I'd guess a fair number of us participated in halloween as children. We carved pumpkins, trick-or-treated, and dressed up.

Did that make you satinists or occultists?

[Oremus pro invicem]

[Oremus pro invicem]

[St.Justin]

[Sarah44]

"Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God."

[amasimp]

[quote="Oremus pro invicem"]

[Sarah44]

When it is well documented that children are sexually assaulted and sadistically tortured in celebration of Samhain/ Halloween, it is not silly. It's not an either/or; people can both enjoy their candy AND pray for the victims.

[amasimp]

[penitent99]

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

[fidei]

My family and I lived in the United States for 14 months some years ago.

There was, and still is, much about the United States that I loved.

However, I found the obsession with Halloween disturbing.
Having kids wander from house to house dressed as witches and devils, and virtually demanding candy or they would do something nasty, seems to me to send entirely the wrong message.

I was puzzled as to why none of the churches seemed to mind this practice.

I think Americans should re-think their easy acceptance of Halloween. I don't think it sits well with our Catholic faith.

It has unfortunately spread my country and I still find it just as disturbing.

[Hark the Harold]

[Vox Gladius]

I can't believe how some people on this forum prevaricate about the merits of Halloween and by association the highly questionable practice of 'Trick or Treat.'

Not only does the Holy Father condemn the custom, but I very much doubt whether any traditional priest would endorse it. Some of you should be bothered to ask one.

With respect to our US cousins, here in Australia, even many non-Catholics condemn the day as yet another hackneyed, over-commercialised imported tradition that we don't want or need.

I have just put up a sign on my front door that states in big bold letters, 'No Trick or Treat Please. Halloween is Wrong! I have then added some dot points in smaller letters: Un-Christian, Un-Australian, Un-Safe.

Hopefully this will deter the hordes of the macabre 'Damned' that swarm my neighbourhood before nightfall today.

Meanwhile my children are playing happily in the back yard and looking forward to All Souls Day (with the accompanying school holiday) when they are free to dress up as angels and saints.
_________________
I came not to send peace, but the SWORD. Matthew 10:34

[St.Justin]

[Giovanni Maria Mastai-Fer]

[St.Justin]

[Vox Gladius]

St.Justin

[St.Justin]

[Hark the Harold]

[Hark the Harold]

[St.Justin]

[Vox Gladius]

St.Justin

[St.Justin]

[Hark the Harold]

[St.Justin]

[quote="Hark the Harold"

SLOOOOW DOOOOOWN SAILOR BOB!!!!!! The man from Down Under clearly said "dress up as angels," NOT metaphysically alter their atomic structures!!! Sorry, too many multiple-syllable words for ya???!! [/quote]

I am Southern and syllables do tend to run together. It does make communication difficult when you speak different languages.

[Hark the Harold]

[Quo Vadis Petre]

http://www.sspx.org/Seasonal/history_of_halloween.htm

A HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

Its pagan origin, sanctification by Catholicism and return to paganism in modern times

The story of Halloween is very old, going back to the days of the Druids1 in England, where in fact, most of the secular customs that are now performed during Halloween were first practiced. The Druids practiced many superstitious customs depending on their beliefs. They had two big feast days and one of these was their New Year’s Eve which was celebrated around the 31st of October. On this day they believed that all those who had died during the past year would rise from their graves and come to spend a last evening by the hearth where they had spent their days of the past. The Druids believed that at midnight all these souls would walk out of the town to be taken by the Lord of Death to the afterlife from where the souls would be able to tranmigrate2. They also feared that if these souls were able to recognize them, that they would drag them down into the afterlife with them. The townspeople therefore wore costumes so as not to be recognizable. They wore these costumes as they escorted the souls of the dead out to meet the Lord of Death. It is easy to see how the custom of wearing costumes (i.e., of demons, witches, etc.) on Halloween has never had anything to do with those customs of Christianity!

When Catholicism came to England and Ireland, it encountered this very popular pagan custom. The popes and bishops became aware that they were going to have to combat this particular custom by stringent means. They therefore set this day aside in honor of the saints in Heaven and the following day as a day of prayer for the souls of all the deceased. The Church made up a whole beautiful set of customs and prayers to be done for the honor of the saints and the relief of the souls in Purgatory. The Litany of the Saints was chanted and the living went to the cemetery to pray at the graveside of their dearly beloved deceased. The feast of All Hallow’s Eve became thus a most holy day.

But due to the popularity of the pagan customs, there were still many people who were not ready to abandon this ugly ritual and they persecuted the Catholics who attempted to fulfill the customs of the Church. The Church tried to draw these troublemakers away from their mischief by staging morality plays and presenting skits on the lives of the saints. But to no avail; the mischief makers would stand behind trees taunting the praying Christians, howling and hooting so as to frighten them from the graves. They would do all sorts of nasty tricks, and all of sorts of strange things would happen. It was not unusual for a farmer to find his livestock spread all over the countryside the following day or even up in the loft of his barn! Most of these nasty pranks were blamed on witches, those women who had sold themselves to the Devil in life, and who returned on brooms supplied by the Lord of Death in order to gather up those souls who would be dragged thenceforth into their afterlife. Those who believed in these witches would set small piles of hay on fire and wave piles in the air to ward off the witches from snatching them up and to frighten them away from their livestock. We see here the two sets of rituals established, the one all glowing with the beauty of Holy Mother Church, the other rank with ugly and ignorant foolishness.

In a gesture of mutual charity, the Christian beggars of the towns would go from door to door asking for food for which they would, in exchange, pray for souls of the departed of that family. Eventually, the prayers were exchanged for what were called soul cakes, and later because one women wished the beggars to remember the eternity of life, pierced her soul cakes for the beggars, thus as tradition tells us, being responsible for the first donuts.

After hundreds of years of the superstitions of the pagans still being subtly supported by the Devil in diverse ways, the Protestant Reformation came along and blew life into the uglier side of the Halloween rituals. The Protestants went about knocking upon doors of Catholic families as if they were beggars coming for the soul cakes. The Catholics were greeted by cold water or other nasty tricks. One can see again the unCatholic origin of this standard which is so widely practiced now on Halloween.

The mischievous tricks of the Halloween pranksters had become so out of hand by the days of World War II, that in fact, the day was known as Mischief Night. And like anything and everything that honors the Devil and detracts from the glory due to God, the ugly customs of the pagan holiday of Halloween were promoted and spread and practiced in greater malice until they became what we now know them to be.

We can easily see simply by reading the history of this holiday that what had been a pagan custom was combated by the Church for an honorable and charitable reason and how the Devil has used it in a perverted manner in order to destroy, if possible, what should be a ritual of beautiful custom. We have a duty, as Catholics, to practice ONLY those rituals designed for the honor of God and the relief of the suffering souls and given to us by Holy Mother Church as a means of furthering our salvation also. To partake in the practice of pagan and devil-honoring rituals is to offend God in a most demeaning way. We should therefore strive rather to return to the beautiful customs of our forefathers and practice in its entirety and with all the purity of its original intention, the customs of All Hallow’s Eve.

FOOTNOTES

1. The Druids were a people practicing a most cruel and inhumane paganism, similar to that of the barbaric Aztecs.
2. Transmigration: The belief that a soul cam move from one object or being to another. Hindus also believe in this, claiming that those who live well will return to their next life in a body of higher caste and that those who lived badly will return as animals or insects or such like.
_________________
Tear away the mask of Freemasonry... - Pope Leo XIII

[St.Justin]

[Quo Vadis Petre]

You tell me how trick or treating is honoring All Hallow's Eve. Trick or treating is useless at best, very bad at worst.
_________________
Tear away the mask of Freemasonry... - Pope Leo XIII

[St.Justin]

[Hark the Harold]

[Quo Vadis Petre]

You're saying, though, then that dressing up as a witch, devil, a ghost, or other such thing while trick or treating is harmless?

The modern trick or treating is a subtle perversion of the old Catholic practices mentioned in the SSPX article, as is evidenced by the costumes always worn.
_________________
Tear away the mask of Freemasonry... - Pope Leo XIII

[Quo Vadis Petre]

Sorry, my previous reply was to St.Justin.
_________________
Tear away the mask of Freemasonry... - Pope Leo XIII

[Savonarola]

Many of you older people may be unfamiliar with how Halloween has changed over the last 30 years.

It's now an unspeakably evil thing. The most depraved images and stories are being shown and told to kindergarten kids. It's become an opportunity for the devil to inure young minds to the ugliness of evil.

[Vox Gladius]

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones.

The colours black and orange have become associated with the celebrations, perhaps because of the darkness of night and the colour of fire or of pumpkins, and maybe because of the vivid contrast this presents for merchandising. Another association is with the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

History

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "[s]ome folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, [it is] more typically [l]inked to the celtic festival of Samhain or Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)",which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end". A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf).

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year".

The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

Another common practise was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.

The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.

Origin of name

The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even – e'en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǣfen. It is now known as "Eve of" All Saints' Day, which is November 1st.

A time of pagan festivities, Popes Gregory III (731–741) and Gregory IV (827–844) tried to supplant it with the Christian holiday (All Saints' Day) by moving it from May 13 to November 1.

In the 800s, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were once celebrated on the same day.

Symbols

A traditional Irish halloween Jack-o'-lantern from the early 20th century on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland.

On All Hallows’ eve, many Irish and Scottish people have traditionally placed a candle on their western window sill to honor the departed. Other traditions include carving lanterns from turnips or rutabagas, sometimes with faces on them, as is done in the modern tradition of carving pumpkins. Welsh, Irish and British myth are full of legends of the Brazen Head, which may be a folk memory of the ancient Celtic practice of headhunting[citation needed]. The heads of enemies may have decorated shrines, and there are tales of the heads of honored warriors continuing to speak their wisdom after death. The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America where pumpkins are both readily available and much larger- making them easier to carve than turnips. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. The American tradition of carving pumpkins preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 1800s.

The imagery surrounding Halloween is largely a mix of the Halloween season itself, works of Gothic and horror literature, in particular the novels Frankenstein and Dracula, and nearly a century of work from American filmmakers and graphic artists, and British Hammer Horror productions, also a rather commercialized take on the dark and mysterious. Modern Halloween imagery tends to involve death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include the Devil, the Grim Reaper, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, goblins, vampires, werewolves, zombies, skeletons, black cats, spiders, bats, and crows.

Particularly in America, symbolism is inspired by classic horror films (which contain fictional figures like Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy). Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

The two main colors associated with Halloween are orange and black.

Trick-or-treating and guising


Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Ireland and Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of show, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, in order to earn their treats.

Costumes

Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. They are said to be used to scare off demons. Costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows, movies, and other pop culture icons.

Costume sales

BIGresearch conducted a survey for the National Retail Federation in the United States and found that 53.3% of consumers planned to buy a costume for Halloween 2005, spending $38.11 on average (up $10 from the year before). They were also expected to spend $4.96 billion in 2006, up significantly from just $3.3 billion the previous year.

In North America, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints’ Day, while some other Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation.

Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Roman Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church sees Halloween as having a Christian connection.[39] Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "[I]f English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."

Most Christians hold the view that the tradition is far from being "satanic" in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage. Other Christians feel concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they believe it trivializes (and celebrates) "the occult" and what they perceive as evil. A response among some fundamentalists in recent years has been the use of Hell houses or themed pamphlets (such as those of Jack T. Chick) which attempt to make use of Halloween as an opportunity for evangelism.

Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith because of its origin as a pagan "Festival of the Dead." In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on the holiday. Many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween for they believe anything that originated from a pagan holiday should not be celebrated by true Christians.

Religions other than Christianity also have varied views on Halloween. Celtic Pagans consider the season a holy time of year. Celtic Reconstructionists, and others who maintain ancestral customs, make offerings to the Gods and the ancestors.

Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to "real witches" for promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches".

In Arab countries where it is celebrated, devotion is given to St. Barbara.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
_________________
I came not to send peace, but the SWORD. Matthew 10:34

[LadyM]

[quote="Savonarola"]Many of you older people may be unfamiliar with how Halloween has changed over the last 30 years.

It's now an unspeakably evil thing. The most depraved images and stories are being shown and told to kindergarten kids. It's become an opportunity for the devil to inure young minds to the ugliness of evil.[/quot

For those with the inclination to promote evil, they do not have to wait for Holloween

One evening of dressing up, going out with the family to gather candy, is not going to "corrupt" the minds of the children.

[Recusant]

From what I have seen as a 25 year old halloween is nowadays about sex for my age groups all the costumes for the girls are slutty things. Its more like a bordello than a black mass.
_________________
JMJ

[Jack007]

Before this thread became another hallmark of AQ lack of civility...

Could no soul comment on the REAL news?

When was the last time YOU could recall the Pope daring to take on the POPULAR culture?

While some of you were engaged in SHOUTING matches... (for the love of Mary will a board mod PLEASE help out the poor guy with the BOLD FONT! I had to quit reading his posts after the third one),
...the Holy Father was doing his JOB!
Now, since this isn't the 1950's (thank God), its not an easy one.
At the very LEAST, let us offer him our support and prayers.
Talk about a lonely place to be...attack the "harmless fun" of Halloween. That will win you all kinds of friends. I can hear it now..."That foolish old man in Rome spoke out against Halloween today. Somebody probably told him that everyday folks were offering candy to little children, instead of pedophile priests."

And yes, some make way too much of the "dangers" of Halloween. Kids aren't going to adopt the occult just because they dressed up as goblins a few times when they were young. I sure didn't.
In an ideal world we wouldn't celebrate Halloween. Since its not, I'm sure with good catechesis and EXAMPLE, our kids won't turn into Charlie Manson.
I HAVE seen an incredible surge in holidays, not just this one, and I truly believe the reasons are all $$$.
I also must SECOND the comment:

[LordBridey]

As Catholics, we should be aware of the diversion that is Halloween. Halloween is completely devoid of the religous significance of All Saint's Day. All Saint's Day is a glorious Feast Day of the Church and should be celebrated as such.

The entire focus should be on the saints, whose sanctity we are obliged to emulate. Our knowledge of their lives can only edify us. Their intercession can only benefit us.

When I was coming up in the 60's and 70's, trick or treating was all I knew. I had no idea that it was associated with a Holy Feast Day of the Chuch.

I feel that I missed out. As Caspar or Batman or a pirate I was oblivious to the fact that the saints were my brothers and sisters in Christ and that I had recourse through them. That, by knowing them, I could know Christ even more.

Halloween completely obfuscates these incredibly potent facts.

My family has virtually obliterated the secular notion of Halloween. Through homeschooling groups or visionary parishes, Halloween has been replaced by a great All Saints Party. The children will dress up as a saints, attend mass, and share with one another who they are attempting to be. For their efforts copious amounts of candy will be had. They will learn a lot about the great people Holy Mother Church has produced.

[Giovanni Maria Mastai-Fer]

[dcs]

Actually, the Church did not "baptize" a pagan feast, rather it was the other way around. The pagans moved their festivals to coincide with the Christian holiday:
http://raphael.doxos.com/comments.php?id=2494_0_1_0_C