Devil's advocate
The term devil’s advocate comes from a Catholic church role called the Promoter of the Faith. This official argued against a candidate’s sainthood to expose flaws or weak evidence. Today, “playing devil’s advocate” means taking a side you don’t truly share to spark debate or test reasoning. It’s a form of the Socratic method.
In canonization, the Devil’s advocate opposed the saint’s cause while the Promoter of the Cause argued for it. Now the task of checking the facts in the inquiry is handled by the Promoter of Justice. The Promoter of the Faith still exists in the same office and is sometimes called the Prelate Theologian.
The office began in 1587 under Pope Sixtus V. The first clear reference appears in the canonization process of St Lawrence Justinian under Pope Leo X. In 1983, Pope John Paul II reduced its power and changed its role. The Vatican can still invite critics to testify about a candidate, as in 2003 when author Christopher Hitchens was interviewed during Mother Teresa’s beatification.
Psychologist Charlan Jeanne Nemeth notes that inauthentic dissent—having someone pretend to disagree—does not improve group decisions as well as genuine dissent. Fake dissent can make people cling more to their original views, a problem for workplaces that use this tactic.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:40 (CET).