Devil's Advocate

Latin: Advocatus Diaboli

In the Roman Catholic Church, the promoter of the faith, a person whose responsibility it is to examine critically the life and miracles of an individual proposed for beatification or canonization. He is popularly called the devil's advocate because his presentation of facts must include everything unfavourable to the candidate.

Pope Leo X, in the early 15th century, seems to have introduced the term, but Sixtus V formally established the office in 1587.

By extension, the term is applied to anyone who resorts to trivialities to provoke controversy.