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There are two contradictory interpretations of the pagan gods and animistic spirits in the Abrahamic religions. One interpretation sees them as inert wood and stone having no real existence. The other sees them as actual demons who have power in this world and have tricked men into worshipping them as gods.
I understand that official Catholic teaching is the former, rather than the latter. Demons can tempt people, but actual magic and witchcraft are just superstitions.
The Catholic Church teaches the existence of demons, of course. This includes the note that all demons were themselves created good, but by their own action became evil, and that it is outside the limits of doctrine to determine the number of demons or their power.
The relation of demons to so-called pagan gods is unclear. The idea that gods or spirits are all just demons (or potentially angels or other incorporeal beings created by God which may remain good, and if so are presumably greatly grieved by the folly of men worshipping them) is batted around sometimes.
There's that intriguing passage in Galatians 4 (see 4:3 and 4:9) where Paul describes the believers as having been previously enslaved by the 'elemental spirits of the universe' - the stoicheion tou kosmou - before being liberated by Christ. What are these? Demons? Spirits? Pagan gods? In Spe Salvi Benedict XVI spoke of them as if they're synonymous with 'the laws of matter and evolution', perhaps seeing them as a personification of physical law, or of what an atheistic cosmos would be like, but that seems a little tenuous for the original first century context.
At any rate, there are a range of plausible Christian views on demons or spirits. One traditional position, of course, has been that idols aren't real and don't do anything - that's in 1 Corinthians with food sacrificed to idols, that's the whole point of Bel and the Dragon, that's in Isaiah (41:29, 42:17, etc.). But of course the fact that an idol is just mute wood or metal does not rule out the possibility of other incorporeal beings, like demons.
Yes, but under Catholic teaching, can demons actually influence the physical world? Or do they just lead men astray?
Yes, within limits demons can influence the physical world within catholic teaching. Possession is taught to be real and demons can interact directly with physical objects just like unfallen angels.
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