In the past the church to declare someone "holy” provided for a real trial in which there were two figures who bore evidence respectively for and against the actual sanctity of the candidate. One of these two figures had the name "Devil’s Advocate".
So the devil’s advocate was a figure provided for by canon law with the task of seeking and exhibiting valid evidence to testify that the candidate was underserving of holiness.
The figure of the Advocatus Diaboli was established by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 to protect the "regularity" of sanctification avoiding errors and fraud. It was abolished by Pope John Paul II in 1983.
With time the expression 'to make the devil’s advocate" has become common use and indicates anyone who uses any means to demolish a statement, a thesis or a conviction of any kind.
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