Pope Francis warns Vatican staff an ‘elegant demon’ lurks among them

The Pope has warned Vatican staff to beware the ‘elegant demon’ that lurks in self-righteous Catholics in his traditional Christmas speech.

During his speech, Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to put the cardinals, bishops, and priests who work in the Holy See on notice that they are particularly vulnerable to evil.

Francis told attendees that by living in the heart of the Catholic Church, ‘we could easily fall into the temptation of thinking we are safe, better than others, no longer in need of conversion.’

Yet we are in greater danger than all others, because we are beset by the ‘elegant demon’, who does not make a loud entrance, but comes with flowers in his hand,’ Francis told the churchmen in the Hall of Blessings of the Apostolic Palace.

Francis appeared to also want to take a broader aim in this year’s speech at arch-conservatives and traditionalists who have become his biggest critics.

Francis blasted their way of living the faith, insisting that being Catholic doesn’t mean following a never-changing set of strict rules but is rather a ‘process of understanding Christ´s message that never ends, but constantly challenges us’.