A society dominated by moral relativism “fosters the spread of Satanism,” an expert recently explained.

Carlo Climati told CNA on April 5 that Satanism “destroys those universal values that are written in the hearts of each human being.” It creates “a society that is turned on its head, in which good becomes evil and evil becomes good.”

Climati is the press director of the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome.

He said young people become captivated “by the illusion of a life that appears to be free of all rules” and by a deceiving freedom that leads them “to a state of dependency and slavery.”

“Unfortunately, modern society is often dominated by moral relativism. This fosters the spread of Satanism,” he noted.

Climati explained that young people are often “the victims of terrible loneliness, the lack of communication and difficult family situations.” They find the occult to be “an easy and quick fix for their problems” and they mistake it for a game. “In recent years young people have sort of been brainwashed into not being afraid of the occult world,” he added.

“Certain forms of rock music could be considered ‘diabolical’ or anti-educational” and often become “a bridge between teens and devil worship.”

“Satanic rock” is easily recognizable for its violent and anti-Christian lyrics and for the “CD jackets that contain bloody and blasphemous images,” Climati explained.

He said the internet and the media are often dangerous places for “psychologically fragile young people,” who entertain themselves by practicing “rites they invent after surfing the web or after reading a book on the occult.”

“Unfortunately,” he added, “sometimes they end up committing acts of violence or murder.”

Climati recently participated in the seminar, “Exorcism and the Prayer of Liberation,” held in Rome. It offered resources to young priests to differentiate between exorcism as a spiritual and theological issue, and Satanism.