Devil’s advocate

Origin of: Devil’s advocate

Devil’s advocate

To play devil’s advocate means to plead or argue the opposite case, not necessarily to refute it, but to test its validity. It derives from Medieval Latin advocatus diaboli a quasi-legal instrument set up by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 to plead the case against the canonisation of saints, representing, as it were, the devil’s view. The official role of advocatus diaboli was abolished by Pope John Paul II in 1983. The current usage of the expression in English dates from the early 1700s.