Vatican: More exorcists to be trained

(Staff) As the world has become more drawn to the occult, the Pope has ordered his bishops to train more priests as exorcists. Each bishop is to establish in his diocese a number of priests trained to free people from demonic possession and to ward off evil spirits from various persons, places or things.

"Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on," Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist, told the media. "Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist. Thankfully, Benedict XVI believes in the existence and danger of evil.”

Amorth said the Pope wants to restore a prayer to St Michael the Archangel which seeks protection against evil. It was traditionally recited at the end of Catholic Masses but was dropped in the 1960s by Pope John XXIII. "The prayer is useful not only for priests but also for lay people in helping to fight demons," Amorth said.

There are concerns that young people are being exposed to the influence of Satanic sects through rock music and the Internet. Father Paolo Scarafoni, who lectures on exorcism for the Vatican, said interest in the occult has grown as people have lost faith in the Church. "People suffer and think that turning to the Devil can help solve their problems. We are being bombarded by requests for exorcisms."

Jesus expelled demons (Mark 1:25-26; 3:15; 6:7, 13; 16:7) and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcism. In theory all priests can perform exorcisms, but in reality only a select few are ever assigned the task by their bishops and must follow strict rules. A solemn or “major exorcism” can only be performed with the bishop’s permission. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.” Illness, whether physical or psychological, “is a very different matter.” In 1975, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggin, issued guidelines on exorcism.

In the rite of exorcism the exorcist first prays for protection for himself and then calls upon God in the Name of Christ to stop the demon having dominion over its victim. Demonic possession is thought to manifest itself as speaking or understanding languages which the person has never learnt (different from “speaking in tongues,” which is considered a sign of religious ecstasy); knowing and revealing things the person has no earthly way of knowing; physical strength beyond the person’s natural ability; and a violent aversion to God, the cross and other Christian symbols.

All Christians pray for protection from Satan in the Lord’s Prayer: “Deliver us from evil” or in some translations “from the Evil One.” Anglicans pray “Beat down Satan under our feet” in the Litany of the Book of Common Prayer (33). Baptismal prayers also seek the restraint of evil in believers: “deliver thy servants from the power of Satan,…Cast out of their hearts every evil imagination…that they may…triumph over the devil…” (536). And during the nighttime service of Compline Anglicans sing an ancient hymn imploring God to “Tread under foot our ghostly foe, / That no pollution we may know.”