"Bishop Schneider warns of 'spirit of Satan' at Synod on the Family"

Maike Hickson, "Bishop Schneider warns of 'spirit of Satan' at Synod on the Family" (LifeSiteNews, October 21, 2015). Excerpt:

LSN: Your superior, Archbishop Tomash Peta, of Astana, Kazakhstan, has said recently during the Synod that, at the 2014 Synod, “the 'smoke of Satan' was trying to enter the aula of Paul VI.” He concretely mentioned as examples for this claim the attempt to allow “remarried” divorcees to receive Holy Communion; the claim that cohabitation “is a union which may have in itself some values”; and finally the “pleading for homosexuality as something which is allegedly normal.” He concluded with the regret that the “smell of Satan” is also to be found “in the interventions of some synod fathers this year [2015].” Could you comment on his statement and explain to us a little more about his position?

Bishop Schneider: I consider this statement one of the most striking, and it was one of the most apt statements on the issue. He spoke these words which no one else has dared to speak. He laid a finger on the wound. For, it is the spirit of Satan to pervert the Commandments of God, using specifically alluring and beautiful language. This is the language of Satan, smelling of the smoke of Satan. Archbishop Thomas Peta sincerely said it and we have to hope that some of the synod fathers awoke.

When Jesus spoke, He was often very exclusionary in His language. For example, when Peter said to Jesus: “Oh, you ought not to suffer at the Cross,” Jesus said: “Go and get behind me, Satan.” This is very exclusionary language. And so the Synod Fathers should also stand up and say such things when they see these proposals for accepting homosexuality and divorce: “Satan depart from here, from this Synod Hall, and from this Holy Eternal Rome.” Some people say it would be helpful to make an exorcism upon the Synod meetings.

Related: John-Henry Westen, "Pope's encouragement of airing heresy is severing the Church" (LifeSiteNews, October 23, 2015).