Devil's advocate

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For other senses of this term, see devil's advocate (disambiguation).

In common parlance, devil's advocate has come to mean a person who takes a position for the sake of argument. This practice is generally an instruction technique, whereby one person more experienced teaches another who is more novice to argue properly, taking in mind a position the latter doesn't know well or at all. This way, the depth of perspective of the arguer-to-be increases.

[edit] Origin

Formerly, during the canonization process of the Roman Catholic Church, the Promoter of the Faith (Latin Promotor Fidei), or Devil's Advocate (Latin advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by the Church to argue against the canonization of the candidate. It was his job to take a skeptical view of the candidate's character, to look for holes in the evidence, and to argue that any miracles attributed to the candidate were fraudulent, etc. The Devil's advocate was opposed by God's advocate, whose job is to make the argument in favor of canonization.

The office was established in 1587 and was abolished by Pope John Paul II in 1983. This abolition streamlined the canonization process considerably, helping John Paul II to usher in an unprecedented number of elevations: nearly 500 individuals were canonized and over 1,300 were beatified during his tenure as Pope as compared to only 98 canonizations by all his 20th-century predecessors.

Such a dramatic increase suggests that the office of the Devil's Advocate had served to reduce the number of canonizations by complicating the process. Some argue that it served a useful role in ensuring that canonizations did not proceed without due care and hence the status of sainthood was not easily achieved. It should be noted that in cases of controversy the Vatican may still seek to informally solicit the testimony of critics of a candidate for canonization. The British columnist Christopher Hitchens was famously asked to testify against the canonization of Mother Teresa in 2002, a role he would later humorously describe as being akin to "representing the devil pro bono."<ref name=Hitch>Christopher Hitchens, " Less than Miraculous." Free Inquiry Magazine, Volume 24 Number 2.</ref>