Daily Fact: There really was a devil's advocate

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Original photo by Channel 82/ Unsplash Devil's advocate was once an actual position in the Catholic Church. The term "devil's advocate" is a familiar label for someone who argues a position they don't agree with just to make a point, but its origins are more literal than you might expect. In 1587, Pope Sixtus V established the position of advocatus diaboli, or "devil's advocate," as part of the process of beatification or canonization — aka becoming a saint. The devil's advocate was the church's skeptic, picking apart stories of reported "miracles" and more to argue against someone's sainthood. The advocate had to be present for any part of the sainthood process to be considered valid. However, the title was primarily a popular moniker — the position's official designation was the "promoter of the faith," or promotor fidei. For hundreds of years, sainthood was relatively rare, but Pope John Paul II (head of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005) believed the church needed more examples of sanctity, so he effectively abolished the position of devil's advocate in 1983 as part of a revision of the canonization procedures. He also shortened the posthumous waiting period for saints from 50 years after death to just five years. These and other changes ushered in an unprecedented number of new saints. In the 600 years before John Paul II, around 300 people were declared saints. In the less than three decades of his papacy, John Paul II oversaw the canonization of 482 saints. The current pope, Pope Francis, has continued this new tradition by canonizing nearly 900 people (including Mother Teresa, Anglican convert Cardinal John Henry Newman, and Swiss seamstress Marguerite Bays) — whether the devil likes it or not.   There is an (unofficial) patron saint of cats. There is an (unofficial) patron saint of cats.

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__ was the first saint ever officially canonized, in 993. __ was the first saint ever officially canonized, in 993. Numbers Don't Lie Number of popes since (and including) St. Peter, traditionally considered the first pope 266 Worldwide box-office returns for the 1997 film "The Devil's Advocate" $153 million Number of saints canonized by Pope Francis in a single day on May 12, 2013 815 Estimated number of total saints in existence 10,000 St. Patrick was not Irish (or named Patrick). Many saints predate the canonization process, which was created in the early Middle Ages. One of these saints is St. Patrick, the holy mascot of that famous day in March. But contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick wasn't Irish at all. He was born in Britain around the fourth century CE, and given the name Maewyn Succat. Eventually he made his way to Ireland, where he became a Christian priest and took the name Patrick, derived from the Latin word "pater," meaning "father." Patrick's extensive missionary work did take place on the Emerald Isle (back in the fifth century CE, Ireland mostly practiced a form of Celtic polytheism), but mischaracterizations continue beyond just his name and hometown. Patrick had no documented love of shamrocks or intense hatred of snakes; many of these well-known tales were created centuries after his death.   You might also like 6 Major Philosophical Ideas, Explained Thank you for supporting our advertisers. They help keep Interesting Facts free!

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