In a recent interview published by the diocese on its website, Ortega asked parents to not allow their children to participate in these celebrations and, if they do, “to dress up as saints or in costumes of beautiful and lovely things.”
Don’t let them “dress up as demons, dress up as witches, or dress up as dead people,” he said, “because in some way you are opening doors, you are in some way tempting the devil… In other words, it’s not something neutral.”
The priest also pointed out that behind the pagan festival of Halloween “there is the influence of evil.” In fact, he said that this is “the biggest day” for satanists. It’s a celebration that “has nothing to do, of course, with what the Christian faith is” and in which, he lamented, “we are being a bit complicit.”
“When you play with fire you can get burned, that’s clear; it’s not that you always get burned, but you can get burned. When you play with spirits, with elements of esotericism or occultism you are opening doors to the evil one,” he warned.
The priest also warned that the evil one “also makes use of ignorance and naïveté” and, although children are often unaware of this background, “in some way they are participating in a festival that has nothing good to do with it.”
“If you drink poison, even if you don’t know it, you are poisoning yourself,” he added.
Ortega also pointed out the danger behind esoteric or other types of practices such as Ouija, Reiki, New Age, or “yoga at certain levels” because, he added, “deep down you are invoking the evil one, you are pressing your luck.”
Cultivate beauty to combat Halloween
The priest reminded that “beauty will save the world” and that it’s very important to educate children in beauty: “We must care for children’s imagination, so that they have beautiful and lovely things in their imagination.”
He thus recommended that there shouldn’t be “ugly pictures” in the children’s rooms but images of the Virgin, the guardian angel, and “that children be blessed every night, that they hear words of blessing, words from heaven, words of hope.”
“We live in a world that is very harmful to children, where there are ugly things and things that truly attack purity of heart, the innocence of children… So we must fight against this with all our might,” he said.