Should Exorcisms and Exorcists be sent to Hell?

[žena vojnik]

Second Sunday of March 2011:
First Sunday of Lent

Should Exorcisms and Exorcists be sent to Hell?

Behind the flippant air of the title lurk rather sinister things worth our attention. Between known rock stars giving themselves to the devil and Harry Potter producing “white” magic, our children are getting “witchcraft friendly”(?!).
Harry Potter

On another note, some of our readers may have seen a movie, Shadowing a Catholic Exorcist; based on a nonfiction book by Matt Baglio, The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. The central character is Michael Kovak, a seminarian student who questions his faith. But before he leaves the seminary, he attends an exorcism course in Rome, where he meets Fr. Luca, an experienced exorcist. While working with Fr. Luca, Michael participates in several exorcisms and comes face to face with the devil. Michael is ultimately required to perform an exorcism on a most unexpected person and realizes that believing in God and His power over evil is necessary to overcome evil.

This movie prompted some reaction from the U.S. bishop’s conference (Nov. 2010) on the “liturgical and pastoral practice of exorcism,” especially the number of exorcists in the United States is minimal. Fifty-six bishops and more priests have registered to hear about the shortage of trained exorcists and the growing interest in the mysterious rite. May God inspire them the spirit of fight against invisible but real “power which infest the air.”

Fr. Gabriele Amorth
Fr. Gabriele Amorth


On this matter, it is well worth to ponder on what has to say Fr. Gabriele Amorth, 85, Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years who with 70,000 cases of demonic possession. He just published An Exorcist Tells His Story. He also objected to the introduction of a new version of the exorcism rite, complaining that it dropped centuries-old prayers and was “a blunt sword” about which exorcists themselves had not been consulted. Here are some of his thoughts:1

*

Here are some of the extraordinary forms of satanic activities: external physical pain (e.g., those which afflicted St. John Vianney); demonic possession; diabolic oppression; diabolic obsession; diabolic infestation; diabolic subjugation (consecration to Satan).
*

Just as it would be wrong to deny the existence of Satan, it is also wrong to accept the prevalent opinion that there are spiritual beings that are not mentioned in the Bible. These are the invention of spiritists and of those who believe in “wandering souls”. There are no good spirits other than angels; there are no evil spirits other than demons. Two councils of the Church (Lyons and Florence) tell us that the souls of those who die go immediately to heaven or to hell or to purgatory. The souls of the dead who are present during séances or the souls of the dead who are present in living bodies to torture them are none other than demons.
*

Satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon”.
*

How can we defend ourselves from all these evils? A strict interpretation of the Ritual confines the use of exorcisms only to instances of true possession. However, as I stated before, the current Ritual fails to address many occasions in which an exorcist diagnoses an evil influence. In all cases when there is no possession, the usual means to obtain grace should be sufficient. These means are prayer; the sacraments; almsgiving; leading a Christian life; pardoning offenses; and soliciting the aid of our Lord, Mary, the saints, and the angels.
*

Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil. Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, the satanic art. The books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil. Also, the books bring out a twisted morality which suggests that rules can be contravened and that useful lies are quite justified.2

FOOTNOTES

1 The Times, March 11, 2010.

2 Ignatius Insight.

http://www.sspx.org/pastors_corner/pastors_corner_march_2011.htm#ex...