(LifeSiteNews) — The associate editor of the heterodox Jesuit-run America magazine expressed his revulsion toward the recitation of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel after Mass in a Wednesday social media post.

Zac Davis, who is also co-host of the “Jesuitical” podcast, wrote on X, “I cannot express how much I dislike the St. Michael Prayer after Mass. It is so, so jarring to me every time.”

I cannot express how much I dislike the St. Michael Prayer after Mass. it is so, so jarring to me every time.

To say nothing of the intent/content of the prayer, the language, and repetition and prominence given to it breed a sense of paranoia and cynicism. Instead of going out… https://t.co/ASuJJbxS3m

— Zac Davis (@zacdayvis) June 24, 2026

“To say nothing of the intent/content of the prayer, the language, and repetition and prominence given to it breed a sense of paranoia and cynicism. Instead of going out to evangelize the world, everyone is ready to go to war with it,” he wrote, replying to a Jesuit praising the recitation of the prayer after Mass.  

Against Davis’ last point, John Monaco pointed out that evangelization of the world and going to war with it “aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Davis went on to share his belief that the St. Michael Prayer is acceptable in private devotion but that it “does not belong” in the context of the liturgy.

Many X users highlighted the disturbing nature of Davis’ opinion, given that the prayer targets the spiritual assaults of the devil and, therefore, it is the devil who drives opposition to the prayer.

Pope Leo XIII composed the prayer in 1884, reportedly after a mystical experience involving a conversation between Jesus and Satan about a century-long, full-scale demonic assault against the Catholic Church. 

The prayer implores St. Michael to “be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil” and to “cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.”

The spiritual battle referred to by the prayer is strongly backed by Scripture, which affirms the necessity of spiritually fighting the devil and demons, the enemies of our souls: “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

At Pope Leo’s direction, the prayer was recited at the conclusion of Low Masses worldwide from 1886 until the liturgical changes of the 1960s. Recitation of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel and the other Leonine prayers (introduced by Pope Leo XIII) after Mass were officially suppressed by the September 26, 1964, Vatican instruction Inter Oecumenici, which went into effect on March 7, 1965.

Catholics were not prohibited from saying the prayer, but after its obligatory recitation after Mass ended, the prayer — and therefore its protective effect — largely dissipated.

Catholic bishops in the United States have gradually been returning to the tradition of reciting the prayer after Mass in recent years, including in response to the sexual abuse crisis within the Church.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.