Is it demonic to get a tattoo or a piercing? Priest Fortea responds
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The famous Spanish theologian José Antonio Fortea, author of the Treatise of demonology Summa Daemoniaca, recently addressed the concern of whether to make a permanent tattoo on the skin or a piercing (perforation), is demonic.

"There are people who ask if tattoos or piercings are something demonic. The answer is “no”. It's only demonic that has a direct relationship with the demon", he told ACI Prensa.

P. Fortea explained that "tattooing the body, like putting on a piercing, is not an offense to God. There is no will to offend him".

Even in cases where the tattoo ink may have been, as some do, consecrated to the demon, this would not necessarily affect the one who does the tattoo without knowing it. "Consecrating the ink to the demon is simply that this person invokes the demon. If the demon is invoked, bad-physical or spiritual things can happen but it is not infallible. God can put his hand to stop that demon action, "he said.

However, he pointed out, "we must remind young people that the body is a work of God. And that it is one thing to put something on top of that body and another to practice irreparable reforms".

"There's nothing wrong with painting something about the body if it's going to disappear after a few days or weeks. It is the fact of the irreversibility that makes common sense wonder if it is appropriate", he said.

The Spanish priest stressed that "no matter how artistic or beautiful a tattoo may seem, the skin in any of the colors and shades bestowed by God to his children will always be much more beautiful."

"It is curious that among the very Christian people, of all the confessions, only if they are tattooed because the conscience warns that this is not appropriate".

P. Fortea later added that although "some people have indeed had the habit of becoming tattoos as a way of showing their ethnic group or religion", over time these customs "have been abandoned".

"Because reason indicates that the body, young or old, possesses a greater or lesser beauty in itself. While the irreversible action of the human being is often an attachment that does not improve the simple and easy beauty of the body itself".

"If someone consults me if my judgment about the tattoo changes if they tattoo faces of Jesus, of the Virgin, crucifixes or similar things, the answer is “no”. In a house, I can make the changes you want, because it is a human work. The same in a dress: in it, I can make the reforms that it considers appropriate. But the human body is a divine thing. Any irreversible intervention in the body must be convenient and reasonable", he added.

The priest regretted that "I see some people who tattoo motives of incredible vulgarity. I see individuals who pay to draw on their bodies very ugly things and with a drawing that has no beauty".

Still, he said, "as aesthetic as a tattoo, you have to remember that it is as if I chose clothes for me with the obligation to always wear those clothes until the last day of my life".

"The straight reason indicates that it is not a good decision", he concluded.