Church trains more priests to meet increasing demand for exorcisms
Black magic, paganism blamed for rise in reported demonic cases
ROME — Forty years after The Exorcist scared the wits out of movie audiences around the world, the Roman Catholic Church is training up a new generation of priests to meet a growing demand for exorcism.
Dioceses across Italy, as well as in countries such as Spain, are increasing the number of priests schooled in administering the rite of exorcism, fabled to rid people of possession by the Devil.
The rise in demonic cases is a result of more people dabbling in practices such as black magic, paganism, Satanic rites and Ouija boards, often exploring the dark arts with the help of information readily found on the Internet, the Church said.
The increase in the number of priests being trained to tackle the phenomenon is also an effort by the Church to sideline unauthorized, self- proclaimed exorcists, and its tacit recognition that belief in Satan, once regarded by Catholic progressives as an embarrassment, is still very much alive.
The diocese of Milan recently nominated seven new exorcists, the bishop of Naples appointed three new ones a couple of years ago and the Catholic Church in Sardinia sent three priests for exorcism training in Rome, amid concern that the Mediterranean island, particularly its mountainous, traditionbound interior, is a hotbed of occultism.
In Spain, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, the archbishop of Madrid, chose eight priests to undergo special training in May to confront what he described as “an unprecedented rise” in cases of “demonic possession.” The Church in Spain was coming across many cases that “go beyond the competence of psychologists” and they were occurring with “a striking frequency,” the archbishop said.
“Diabolical possessions are on the increase as a result of people subscribing to occultism,” said Francesco Bamonte, the president of the Italy- based International Association for Exorcists.
“The few exorcists that we have in the dioceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help,” he told La Repubblica.
The association was founded in 1993 by Gabriele Amorth, who served as the Vatican’s chief exorcist and who claims to have conducted thousands of exorcisms.
He has written several books on the subject, including The Last Exorcist — My Fight Against Satan.
A controversial figure, he has claimed that yoga is “evil” because it leads to a worship of Hinduism and other Eastern religions.
During the papacy of Benedict XVI he said that the sex abuse scandals which engulfed the Church in the U. S., Ireland, Australia and other countries were proof that the Antichrist was waging a war against the Holy See.
The Church insists that the majority of people who claim to be possessed by the Devil are suffering from a variety of mental- health issues, from paranoia to depression. Priests generally advise them to seek medical help.
But in a few cases, it is judged that the person really has been taken over by evil, and an exorcism is required.
The need for exorcisms is “rare, very rare”, said Vincenzio Taraborelli, a priest in a church which lies just a few hundred yards from the Vatican. “In the cases where a mental illness is apparent, we try to send them to a doctor.”