Exorcism by cellphone: Beating the devil in the 21st century
ABOUT 200 aspiring exorcists gathered on Monday for a week-long course in casting out demons, including by cellphone, if necessary, amid increased demand for the service among Roman Catholics.
Participants, many of them priests, will attend lectures and talks on a range of topics including withcraft in Africa, how to tell the difference between demonic possession and mental illness, and a step-by-step guide to casting out demons.
Cardinal Ernest Simoni of Albania drew strong interest in the first session by citing the use of cellphones in exorcisms.
“They call me and we speak and that’s how I do it,” the 89-year-old Cardinal Simoni said. He explained he would read the prayers of exorcism in Latin over the phone just as he would if performing the lengthy rite in person.
Although no official figures are available, Catholic Church officials say the number of demonic possessions is on the rise.
“The number of exorcisms has definitely increased over the years, as the requests to carry out exorcisms has increased,” said Professor Giuseppe Ferrari, an organiser of the “Course on Exorcism and the Prayer of Liberation” at the Vatican-approved Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome.
“This course is useful because it prepares the priests who carry out exorcisms to have a complete vision, a multi-disciplined view of the situation,” he added.
Father Benigno Palilla, an exorcist for the diocese of Palermo, told Vatican Radio in February that he had performed about 50 exorcisms in the past two-and-a-half years.
As well as licensed exorcists, theologians, psychologists, medical doctors, criminologists, and Church historians also addressed the course participants.
Students, who included several dozen women, will receive a certificate, though Prof Ferrari stressed that it would not entitle them to cast out demons. Only priests can perform exorcisms, and only with their bishop’s permission or a licence.
Lay Catholics, including women, can be what a course entry called “auxiliary exorcists,” meaning they can be present at the rite, pray and give moral support to the priest casting out the demon.
Cardinal Simoni said exorcisms should only be attempted after doctors are unable to explain the behaviour of a person deemed to be demonically possessed.