Catholics plan prayer protest against installation of Satanic monument in veterans' memorial park

Catholics in Minnesota are planning to rally in prayer to oppose the installation of a Satanic monument at a veterans' memorial park.

In May, the city of Belle Plaine approved a monument proposed by the Satanic Temple in a small area called "The Free Speech Zone" at the veterans park.

The monument, which features an upturned soldier's helmet on top of a large black steel cube engraved with a golden inverted pentagram, will be the first Satanic monument on public grounds in the U.S.

On July 15, lay members of the Catholic Church will gather for a rosary rally organized by America Needs Fatima (ANF) and Return to Order (RTO), two campaign branches of a Catholic lay organization known as Tradition, Family and Property.

"The best way that Satan can accomplish his mission of luring souls into damnation is to erode the horror, the natural horror, that men have of the devil," AMF director Robert Ritchie told The Daily Caller.

"Once that natural horror is eroded, the devil has a better chance of having people accept his presence. So our job as Catholics is to remind people of the truth that they already know — that Satan is our ultimate enemy who wants our ultimate failure in life and who wants to destroy the purpose of life which is to correspond to God's plan for each person and to go to Heaven. And the devil wants people not to live according to God's plan and wants them to go to Hell," he continued.

City officials approved the Satanic monument after citizens rallied to protest against the removal of another display that featured a soldier kneeling before a cross.

The city decided to remove the cross display in January due to a complaint filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but the officials later reversed the order and designated the park as a limited public forum or "free speech zone," where any faith group could put up a monument.

According to CBS Minnesota, the area has been designated to 10 or fewer memorials, as long as they honor veterans.

The co-founder of The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, said that the approval of the Satanic display garnered little controversy and there has been no opposition from the Belle Plaine city council.

City officials say that the monument is finished, and they are working out on a date for its installation.

The temple also attempted to install a Baphomet statue at the Oklahoma state capitol to counter a Ten Commandments display, but the proposal was rejected after the state declared religious displays at the capitol to be unlawful.