Pope Francis speaks about numbing the conscience ...

"The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy."

The last state is worse than the first.

“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,it roams through arid regions searching for restbut, finding none, it says,‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.Then it goes and brings back seven other spiritsmore wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.” - Lk. 11

It's true.  I know by experience.

A life of compromise.  After the first conversion a person can fall back into the same sin - St. Peter speaks about this: "For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of [our] Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first.”

It's true.

Gay people especially get caught up in this snare.  Little by little, accepting this vanity and that enchantment; this delight and that warm and cuddly affection.  Adopting an "an overly benign interpretation" of "the homosexual condition itself."  Falling back into excuses, and then worse sins.

Years ago, I knew a religious... I had heard he left his community, when I ran into him in a bar, during one of my own backsliding episodes.  I was taken aback, since he was obviously heavy into leather - dressing the part and acting the role.  He was a totally different person.  Thanks be to God, I learned not long ago that he repented, again, and was accepted back into the community.  Many people are not as fortunate - because the last state is decidedly worse than the first.

In his homily in the chapel at the Saint Martha residence, the Pope said that in the spiritual life “temptations always return, the evil spirit never gets tired.” If he has been kicked out once, he is patient, waiting to return, and “If you let him in, you fall into a worse situation.”

In fact, Francis said, in the gospel story, at first it was clear that it was the devil who was causing problems. But afterward, “The evil one conceals himself, and comes with his very polite friends, knocking at the door, asking permission, but then moves in and spends time with the man and, little by little, starts giving the orders.”

With his “good manners,” Francis said, the devil makes the man fall into moral relativism, calming his conscience.

We start saying things like “This happens everywhere” and “We are all sinners,” Francis said. Yet “When we say everybody, we mean nobody,” he said. “And so we live this worldliness that is the child of the evil spirit.”

“Calming the conscience, numbing the conscience, this is a great evil,” he said.

“When the devil manages to numb your conscience he has won a real victory,” Francis said, because “he has become the master of your conscience.” - Source

Remember that the next time you think about stopping off at The Eagle for a beer.  Or decide to groom yourself for a cruise ... or hook up with someone online - just to talk and have dinner of course.