During a recent interview, Gabriele Amorth, the chief exorcist of Rome, said he can identify the devil.

Amorth described the devil as a pure spirit with no corporeal substance, which is why he cannot be depicted in a form that the average human comprehends. Drawing parallels to God’s angels, Amorth explained that the devil too must take on features and characteristics that are easily understandable by humans. He said the devil is uglier than anything people can imagine and it is the devil’s hideous appearance that highlights how far away he is from God.

“We can deduce this through a logical argument: if God is infinite beauty, it clearly follows that one who decides to distance himself from God must be the opposite. I want to say, however, that these are theological arguments based on divine Revelation. We cannot prove it apart from our faith,” said Amorth.

When asked how the average human should imagine the devil to be, Amorth said people need to put aside images commonly derived from traditional iconography, including a person with horns, a tail, claws, bat-like wings and fiery eyes because such cartoonish imagery and a casual approach only strengthens the devil. According to the exorcist, the devil manifests himself in whatever form he deems convenient – from a person like Mephistopheles to a monstrous animal.

“... The most ‘colorful’ example of this, it seems to me, is the case of St Pio of Pietrelcina. Sometimes Satan would show himself to this great saint as a vicious dog, sometimes in the guise of Jesus or the Virgin Mary, at other times under the guise of Padre Pio's confessor. Often he even appeared as the Father Guardian of the friary who commanded him to do something. By verifying the order first, Padre Pio knew that he had had a vision of the devil. And there were even times that the devil appeared as a beautiful naked girl, so discernment is not a simple matter,” Amorth explained.