The Pope and Halloween?

[tdmavens]

I’m hoping you may have some information to help me.

A friend of mine on facebook was talking about Halloween, and she said that “the Catholics compromised the Word of God” with regard to Halloween.

When I asked her what she meant, she replied:

“God says in His word that we should abstain from the appearance of evil basically in this case with the halloween practice the Pope should not have moved holy days to be near the pagan holy days,nor allowed pagan worship to be consecrated to Christ, etc. We can’t mix in satan’s agenda with God’s. We have to be obedient to His Word and not have an appearance of satan and call it Holy.”

I am currently trying to do some research around this topic, but if anyone has any ideas about how I should respond, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks, and God Bless!

 

[SonCatcher]

Your friend doesn’t realize that the purpose of moving All Saints to Nov 1 was not to incorporate pagan tradition but to contrast their horrific view with the Beatific Vision the saints all share in.

Sorry, I cannot cite sources as most of what I learned about the transfer came from priests speaking during homilies.

 

[tdmavens]

Thank you for your reply.

I have also thought of asking her if she has any specific evidence (Church document, encyclical, etc.) that show that the Pope indeed had this intention when moving the feast day.

 

[bz5]

You might want to read the tract here on Catholic Answers entitled “Is Catholicism Pagan?” Michelle Arnold also answered some questions and posted links on the subject. Good luck!

 

[tdmavens]

Thank you!