by Nick Squires, Rome
7:14PM BST 08 May 2014
The decline of religious belief in the West and the growth of secularism has
“opened the window” to black magic, Satanism and belief in the occult, the
organisers of a conference on exorcism have said.
The six-day meeting in Rome aims to train about 200 Roman Catholic priests
from more than 30 countries in how to cast out evil from people who believe
themselves to be in thrall to the Devil.
The conference, “Exorcism and Prayers of Liberation”, has also attracted
psychiatrists, sociologists, doctors and criminologists in what the Church
called a “multi-disciplinary” approach to exorcisms.
Giuseppe Ferrari, from GRIS, a Catholic research group that organised the
conference, said there was an ever growing need for priests to be trained to
perform exorcisms because of the increasing number of lay people tempted to
dabble in black magic, paganism and the occult.
“We live in a disenchanted society, a secularised world that thought it was
being emancipated, but where religion is being thrown out, the window is
being opened to superstition and irrationality,” said Mr Ferrari.
The abandonment of religion “inevitably leads people to ask questions about
the existence of evil and its origins”, he told Adnkronos, an Italian news
agency.
About 250 priests were trained as exorcists in Italy, but many more were needed, the conference organisers claimed.
“Just in the dioceses of Rome, around a third of calls that are received are requests for the services of an exorcist,” said Fr Cesar Truqui, a priest and exorcist from Switzerland and a member of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic order.
In the popular imagination, exorcisms evoke images of black-clad priests holding aloft silver crucifixes while trying to rid frothing, wild-eyed victims of Satanic possession.
The Church tries to play down the more lurid associations but at the same time insists that the Devil exists and must be fought on a daily basis.
“Exploring the theme of demonic possession does not mean causing general paranoia, but creating awareness of the existence of the Devil and of the possibility of possession,” Fr Truqui told Vatican Radio. “It happens rarely but you can fight it with God, with prayer, with Marian devotion.”
Demonic possession manifests itself in people babbling in foreign languages, shaking uncontrollably and vomiting nails, pieces of metal and shards of glass, according to those who believe in the phenomenon.
Those thought to be possessed are supposed to undergo the official Catholic rite of exorcism, which involves a consecrated priest invoking the name of God, as well as various saints, to cast out their demons.
Pope Francis has frequently alluded to the Devil in his homilies and addresses since being elected to succeed Benedict XVI last March.
In a homily this week, he said that the Devil was behind the persecution of early Christian martyrs, who were murdered for their faith. The “struggle between God and the Devil” was constant and ongoing, he said.
About 250 priests were trained as exorcists in Italy, but many more were needed, the conference organisers claimed.
“Just in the dioceses of Rome, around a third of calls that are received are requests for the services of an exorcist,” said Fr Cesar Truqui, a priest and exorcist from Switzerland and a member of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic order.
In the popular imagination, exorcisms evoke images of black-clad priests holding aloft silver crucifixes while trying to rid frothing, wild-eyed victims of Satanic possession.
The Church tries to play down the more lurid associations but at the same time insists that the Devil exists and must be fought on a daily basis.
“Exploring the theme of demonic possession does not mean causing general paranoia, but creating awareness of the existence of the Devil and of the possibility of possession,” Fr Truqui told Vatican Radio. “It happens rarely but you can fight it with God, with prayer, with Marian devotion.”
Demonic possession manifests itself in people babbling in foreign languages, shaking uncontrollably and vomiting nails, pieces of metal and shards of glass, according to those who believe in the phenomenon.
Those thought to be possessed are supposed to undergo the official Catholic rite of exorcism, which involves a consecrated priest invoking the name of God, as well as various saints, to cast out their demons.
Pope Francis has frequently alluded to the Devil in his homilies and addresses since being elected to succeed Benedict XVI last March.
In a homily this week, he said that the Devil was behind the persecution of early Christian martyrs, who were murdered for their faith. The “struggle between God and the Devil” was constant and ongoing, he said.
22 comments:
The identification of demonic temptation and even oppression are of far greater importance to ordinary priests. He's prowling.
What on earth has happened to the Vatican website? It really seems to be encouraging a cult of personality (and all I wanted was the booklet for Sunday's mass).
???????
Well, I sort of see WAITJ's point. The site now puts the pope front and center. It is, however, very specifically the site of the Holy See, rather than the site of the Diocese of Rome. The vicariatusurbis.org site uses the cathedral as it's identifying feature, and is more user friendly.
According to Fr Gabriel Amorth, demonic oppression of some sort is far more common than possession.While a trained exorcist is needed for an exorcism of a possessed person, any Catholic priest can say the prayers of minor exorcism. It would be good for more priests to be trained in the signs of demonic oppression.
JBS, you're absolutely right. My questions are often intentionally provocative. That's what I do...my vocation. I poke pointy sticks and sarcastic comments and fun and at the MANY bloggers here who I see as pompous, holier than anybody, smarter than anybody snobs, who look down on those of us they deem "libs" who want only to destroy the Church. I don't want to destroy anything or anybody. I just want to love God... my neighbor as I do myself...and would really appreciate it if he or she would do the same.
I think that demonic possession and exorcism fall into the same category as the fight about the sun revolving around the earth...we didn't know any better. Now we do.
In closing....your smug use of Latin quotes makes you look juvenile and foolish.
Peace be with you.
Troll
Anonymous, Your questions are not really very good provocation. They are more like a kid on one side of the street going "nananana-boo-boo" to the big boys on the other side. Ignotus rates higher than you on provocation but, actually, Anon 2's comments are the most provocative, in my opinion, because they are astute, scholarly, and far more difficult to dismiss when I do not agree with him…and I often do not. So, stay on the porch, Anonymous, and quit trying to run with the big dogs...
So....you're one of "big dogs?
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
No, Anonymous, I did not claim to be a big dog at all.
I was yielding that to Anon 2 and Ignotus. I was only
making the observation that you are a chihuaha.
We have a lot of Anonymi here; they are legion. Hmmm, maybe we need an exorcism?
Who's using Latin quotations?
Anon at 6:15: I mean the following as honest dialogue and an invitation to discuss, even though I pull no punches in what follows. I'm not trying to insult or make fun of you. I'm genuinely looking for an honest response from you.
If _all_ you want to do is love God and your neighbor as yourself, as you say, then why not be a member of a non-doctrinal tradition? Why do you identify yourself as Catholic (which you apparently do) if you are so convinced that the Church is doing things wrong? When you dump on many of the practices, if not doctrines, of the Church, It seems that _you're_ the one being (or trying to be) pompous, holier than anybody, and smarter than anybody. If you disagree with the Church so much and simply want the basics of the two great commandments, that's a classically Protestant response--the response that all of this Catholic stuff gets in the way of being a _real_ Christian. The logical thing would thus be to go Protestant. But instead, you hang around here trying to show us that you're right and all of us (and orthodox Catholicism) are wrong.
As for us: I don't see it as pompous, smug, or sanctimonious to read what the Church has doctrinally taught over 2000 years and observe that some people who identify themselves as Catholics, both laity and clergy, either don't know those teachings or flat-out reject them.
I myself break the commandments on a daily basis. Yet I'm honest with myself about that. What I _don't_ do is to try to deny that, according to doctrine, I _am_ breaking them, or deny the divine origin and thus truth of that doctrine, which is what modernists do. We bring up this stuff so much because if the modernists are wrong, then they are leading souls into error and potential damnation.
So, I'd like an honest response from you here. It's been my experience that modernists usually don't want to give such responses. They troll, or turn to sarcasm, or answer straw man questions that haven't been asked, or try to silence debate in one way or another, or otherwise tend to generate heat rather than light. Every time--every time--I have expressly asked someone here for an honest debate, I have been refused, which has only strengthened my opinion of the dangers of modernism. So do you want to prove me wrong? Are you confident enough in the truth of your own position to engage in genuine discussion? Do you want to be to be part of the solution or part of the problem? Do you want to add to a civil discussion here or detract from it? I welcome your honest response.
With the announcement of Paul VI's beatification, today would be a great day to reread his 1972 "Confronting the Devil's Power" address! It's certainly relevant to this post.
Thanks for reminding me of it, I'll post it.
Socrates - As you seek the "logical" thing for Anon 6:15 to do, you would do well to remember the words of Jesus, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." (John 15:16)
Faith is not always "logical," though it is usually reasonable. People who struggle with aspects of the faith, whether these are in the area of sexual morality, liturgical theology, social doctrine, etc., remain part of the Church because they have been called to be part of the Church.
It is not reasonable to assume, as you do, that Anon's comment, " I just want to love God... my neighbor as I do myself..." is the complete expression of his/her faith.
Traditionalists (as opposed to Traditional Catholics) can be just as guilty of leading souls into error and potential damnation. Many of the traditionalists I encounter offer, with the best of intentions, a narrow and often incomplete understanding of Catholic doctrine. Trapped in that inadequate understanding, they condemn as "modernists" anyone who disagrees with them.
Well it was us baby boomers who laid the groundwork for the "nones" to leave the Church with crappy catechesis. As a cradle Catholic who attended Catholic grade school and a Catholic college, I had to find the faith on my own by avoiding the pitfalls that my teachers and professors layed before me. As I have mentioned before, my alma mater, St. John's in Minnesota, was and is a moral and theological cesspool. Please check out this link about a theology professor from there who became the ambassador to the Vatican. Yes, they swing both ways there at SJU. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/former-vatican-ambassador-faced-sexual-harassment-claim/ Vianney1100
Yet another non-answer from Ignotus.
Here is a thought that came to me. While there are quite a number of Catholics today who have trouble believing in the Real Presence, apparently the Satanist don't. Else why would they attempt to steal His Body and Blood (the consecrated host) to use in their Satanic masses? Of course that makes their sin all the more serious.
Pater,
Re your "It is not reasonable to assume, as you do, that Anon's comment, " I just want to love God... my neighbor as I do myself..." is the complete expression of his/her faith": Did you even read the words of his that you yourself quoted? I took him at his word I don't see how accepting what someone says is unreasonable, and your ideas of what is and isn't reasonable are usually worthless anyway.
Many aspects of the Faith are beyond reason, but that doesn't mean we abandon reason when discussing it (something you usually do, apparently preferring not to be fettered by things such as logic, evidence, syntax, and other matters). I'm tempted to offer you $1000 if you ever give me a response that doesn't mischaracterize what I have asked/said.
Of course, on this occasion your straw man is a good object lesson in what I mentioned in my previous, so it isn't totally worthless at this point. On th other hand, you're being an officious intermeddler, since I wasn't talking to you. Bow out and let 6:15 respond for himself--quit putting words either in my mouth _or_ his and let us have a reasonable discussion.
In the NT, the Demons always recognized Christ for who he was before his own people did.
Socrates - If you want a private conversation with Anon 6:15, get out a pen and paper. What's posted here in public is open for public comment.
I took Anon 6:15 at his/her word, but I did not assume that, in 12 words, we had heard all that Anon might have to say about his/her faith. That's your assumption, not mine.
Logic, evidence, syntax matter - but they don't trump the gift of faith.
Pater,
You don't (or rather, won't) get it, will you? I'm not talking about anything "trumping" anything else. I'm not talking about whether faith is reasonable or not. Even faith must be discussed via some system of communication involving the exchange of ideas in some comprehensible fashion. I'm talking about (asking for ) a reasoned exchange of ideas concerning faith, with the goal of mutual enlightenment and understanding. You (and as of this writing, 6:15) are refusing to engage in that sort of reasoned exchange, regardless of whatever faith you may have. You have shown yourself over and over again to prefer heat to light. The very fact that you're so deliberately and characteristically obtuse on this point proves that to any disinterested reader on this public forum.
If you want to talk so much about faith, fine. I believe that the flying spaghetti monster transported Elvis to planet zork in the mothership on February 35th. That is my faith. Now, as a priest, you might wish to dispute that and introduce me to Christianity. Please do so without any reasoning process whatsoever. You may not use language, since syntax is at least quasi-rational in its use of rules. I'll be waiting.
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