Christians have “formed” the Devil as a way of expressing evil, the Jesuit superior general has said.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Fr Arturo Sosa said: “Christians believe that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and God is free, but He always chooses to do good because He is all goodness.

“We have formed symbolic figures such as the Devil to express evil. Social conditioning can also represent this figure, since there are people who act because they are in an environment where it is difficult to act to the contrary.”