<P> The Advocatus Diaboli (Latin for Devil's Advocate) was an official position within the Catholic Church: one who "argued against the canonization (sainthood) of a candidate in order to uncover any character flaws or misrepresentation of the evidence favoring canonization". </P> <P> In common parlance, the term devil's advocate describes someone who, given a certain point of view, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with (or simply an alternative position from the accepted norm), for the sake of debate or to explore the thought further . Despite being ancient, this idiomatic expression is one of the most popular present - day English idioms used to express the concept of arguing against something without actually being committed to the contrary view . </P> <P> During the canonization process employed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Promoter of the Faith (Latin: promotor fidei), popularly known as the Devil's advocate (Latin: advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by Church authorities to argue against the canonization of a candidate . It was this person's job to take a skeptical view of the candidate's character, to look for holes in the evidence, to argue that any miracles attributed to the candidate were fraudulent, and so on . The Devil's advocate opposed God's advocate (Latin: advocatus Dei; also known as the Promoter of the Cause), whose task was to make the argument in favor of canonization . During the investigation of a cause, this task is now performed by the Promoter of Justice (promotor iustitiae), who is in charge of examining the accuracy of the inquiry on the saintliness of the candidate . The Promoter of the Faith remains a figure in the Congregation of the Causes of Saints and is also known as the Prelate Theologian . </P> <P> The office was established in 1587 during the reign of Pope Sixtus V . The first formal mention of such an officer is found in the canonization of St. Lawrence Justinian under Pope Leo X (1513 - 1521). Pope John Paul II reduced the power and changed the role of the office in 1983 . In cases of controversy the Vatican may still seek to informally solicit the testimony of critics of a candidate for canonization . The number of canonisation increased, from 330 between 1588 and 1978, to 483 under John Paul II's pontificate (1978 - 2005, that is an average of 18 canonisations per year). </P>

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