Exorcism in the Catholic Church

Evaluation

According to the Vatican's guidelines issued in 1999, "the person who claims to be possessed must be evaluated by doctors to rule out a mental or physical illness". Most reported cases are not seen as requiring an exorcism because twentieth-century Catholic officials regarded genuine demonic possession as an extremely rare phenomenon that is easily confused with mental illness. Demand for exorcisms increased in the early twenty-first century and the number of trained exorcists increased. Prior to the late twentieth century, exorcists were mainly anonymous, and the performance of exorcisms remained a secret. Some exorcists attributed the rise in demand of exorcisms to a rise in drug abuse and violence, leading to the suggestion that the two were related. The Church point of view is that some people need only spiritual or medical help, especially if drugs or other addictions are present, and not exorcism. The Church view is that trained priest and medical professionals can work together to help a patient, and to be able to determine if the patient is suffering from an illness or not. Spiritual needs are dealt with by prayers, the laying on of hands or a counselling session. Particular sacramentals, such as the wearing of a cross necklace or usage of blessed salt, are believed by the Church to offer protection against Satan when used with faith.

Characteristics

What the Church views as signs of demonic invasion vary depending on the type of demon and its purpose, including:

• Using languages unknown to the person or people around them.
• Having extraordinary strength or resistance to physical restraint.
• Knowledge of events or people that the person could not have possibly known.
• An aversion to holy objects or places, such as holy water or churches.
• Self-harming and displaying violent or aggressive behaviour.
• Ailments or conditions that cannot be diagnosed or treated medically.
• Having hallucinations or hearing voices.
• An abrupt change in behaviour or personality.
• Sudden spiritual dryness.
• Expelling of objects or animals through the mouth.

Procedure

The person subjected to exorcism may be restrained so that, in the view of the Church, they do not harm themselves or any person present. The exorcist then prays and commands the demons possessing the subject to retreat. The Catholic priest recites certain prayers – the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Athanasian Creed. Exorcists use a cross and holy water and follow procedures listed in the Roman Ritual of the exorcism revised by the Vatican in 1999. Seasoned exorcists use the Rituale Romanum as a starting point, not always following the prescribed formula exactly. The official practice of exorcism is governed by the Vatican document De Exorcismis et Supplicationibus Quibusdam. The Vatican offers a course on exorcism, which in 2019 for the first time was opened to members of other Christian denominations. According to Brad Steiger, after the exorcism has been finished, the person possessed feels a "kind of release of guilt and feels reborn and freed of sin."

Samuel J. Aquila views the recital of the Lord's Prayer as a small-scale exorcism procedure, as the ending contains the words "deliver us from evil". In the 15th century, Catholic exorcists were both priestly and lay, since every Christian was considered as having the power to command demons and drive them out in the name of Christ. These exorcists used the Order of Saint Benedict's formula "Vade retro satana" ("Step back, Satan") around this time (this prayer is inscribed on the Saint Benedict Medal sacramental).

Prevalence

Demand for exorcisms was globally rising in 2018. This increase was described as a "pastoral emergency" by the International Association of Exorcists. According to Dr Richard Gallagher, a psychiatrist who works with exorcists, the rise is caused by both an increase of people believing they are possessed when they are not and a trend away from mainstream religions towards the occult. Professor of religious studies, Andrew Chesnut, sees the rise being caused by a rise in charismatic Christianity. Chesnut says that a disproportionate number of exorcists belong to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement. According to exorcist Fr Vincent Lampert, about 1 in 5000 people who believe they are possessed, are indeed.

Literature

On this subject, there is the book by journalist Matt Baglio called The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, first edited in 2009 and then in 2010, which inspired the 2011 film The Rite and which mentions Psychiatrist Dr. Richard E. Gallagher, who has also written a book on the subject, published in 2020 by HarperCollins, called Demonic Foes, A Psychiatrist Investigates Demonic Possession in the Modern United States.

An Exorcist Tells His Story (published on March 1, 1999), An Exorcist: More Stories (published on February 1, 2002), An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels (published on October 20, 2016), Father Amorth: My Battle Against Satan (published on November 15, 2018) and The Devil is Afraid of Me: The Life and Work of the World's Most Popular Exorcist (published on January 19, 2020) were some of the books written by Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican from 1986 until his death in 2016 (aged 91) which describes his experiences as an exorcist, which inspired the 2023 film The Pope's Exorcist.

By country

Germany

One prominent example of a German exorcism is the 1976 death of Anneliese Michel, for which two priests were convicted of negligent homicide.

Poland

In 2008, the Catholic Church approved plans to establish an exorcism centre in Poczernin. In 2018, Poland had 150 exorcists. Their role was seen as fighting the "demons of homosexuality" and the "demons of esotericism."

Piotr Glas is a Polish exorcist. , according to a Polish Church official from Płock, Glas was disqualified from exorcism and from using techniques that are forbidden under the Church's rules of exorcism. Other Polish Church officials stated in 2017 that their informal opinion was that Glas was "not an exorcist" as he was affiliated with the Diocese of Portsmouth, not with a Polish diocese.

Mexico

In 2004, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, the archbishop of Mexico City, held the first National Meeting of Exorcists with the intention of combating Satanism. In 2013, exorcists in Mexico City said that there was "unprecedented demand for their services." One exorcist attributed the rise in need for exorcisms to the rise in the number of followers of Santa Muerte and the decriminalization of abortion.

Notable examples

• A book written by Father Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican from 1986 until he died in 2016 (aged 91), describes his experiences as an exorcist. The film The Pope's Exorcist was inspired by Amorth's works.
• 1928 — Emma Schmidt (pseudonym Anna Ecklund) underwent a 14-day exorcism in Earling, Iowa, performed by a Catholic priest. This is the most well-documented case of alleged demonic possession in history and a minor inspiration for The Exorcist. The priest who led this exorcism was Fr. Theophilus Riesinger.
• 1949 — Roland Doe was allegedly possessed and underwent an exorcism. The events later inspired the novel and film The Exorcist.
• 1975–1976 — Anneliese Michel was a woman from Germany who underwent 67 exorcisms, which inspired the films The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Requiem. In a conference several years later, German bishops retracted the claim that she had been possessed.
• 1979 — Reports of an exorcism in the Catholic village of Zhangpuqiapo, near the pilgrimage site of Sheshan, resulted in tensions between the Catholic Church in China and the government. According to the accounts, a woman was demonically possessed and a married priest who was a member of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association failed to exorcise it using the older Latin formulas for expelling demons. Attempts by villagers to take the woman to Sheshan failed (attributed to the woman's supernatural strength) and initial attempts by three women Catholic teachers said to be proficient in expelling demons failed. An account of the exorcism describes one of the women returning with the Eucharist and expelling the demon, which announced that Jesus Christ commanded Chinese Catholics to visit Sheshan the next March. Another account attributed the exorcism to a priest. A Jesuit named Shen Baishun distributed a pamphlet describing the events, stating that the possessed woman had announced that "doomsday will come in the year 2000" and the "Virgin Mary will shine and make an appearance" the next March in Sheshan. The Chinese government contended that this narrative was spread for counterrevolutionary purposes and prosecuted Shen.

Films about Catholic exorcists

References

References

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