- Seems like a sensible decision, if you ask us.
The pandemic has driven people to try just about anything to stay healthy, including those horse de-wormers. Others have even decided that only the supernatural can help them.
Catholic priests have seen a massive upsurge in faithful calling on them to perform exorcisms to drive out the coronavirus. But the Church has now dashed the believers’ hopes of a quick prayer treatment.
The 15th annual Course on Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation — the Vatican-sanctioned and Pope-blessed exorcism conference — took place in Rome in October. During the conference, the Catholic Church explicitly told priests not to try and exorcise COVID-19.
Father Miguel Martin, a trained Spanish exorcist who attended the event, said that priests are getting ever-increasing numbers of exorcism requests from people sick with COVID.
“We were told under no circumstance should we perform the rite on a COVID patient,” Martin told The Daily Beast.
At least the Catholic Church seems intent on following the best medical practices.
Degree in Exorcism
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, that Vatican would officially prohibit exorcism as a COVID treatment. After all, Catholic priests have strict guidelines on when and how they can even consider exorcism as an option.
First of all, the priest carrying out the exorcism ritual has to have proper training. Not just any priest may act as an exorcism.
Furthermore, the Church requires the person requesting the exorcism has to undergo full medical testing. According to official Vatican guidelines, priests may only attempt exorcism after doctors have ruled out all possible physical or mental illnesses.
In fact, some Church officials have publicly rebuked rogue priests that have tried to drive out the COVID devil at their own discretion. Fernanda Alfieri, an instructor at the University of Bologna who lectures on the intersection of science and religion, pointed out the case of Father Rolando Ablong in the Philippines.
Ablong sent exorcists armed with holy water around his parish to exorcise COVID patients. Multiple high-ranking authorities in Rome said he violated Church doctrine on the line between physical health and “true demonic possession.”
Open to All
However, the exorcism course did take some unprecedented measures this year in response to the pandemic. For the first time ever, the organizers allowed laypeople to attend the conference together with Vatican-trained exorcists.
These people didn’t receive training in casting out filthy spirits, though. Alfieri said that many of the attending laypeople are devout Catholics working in mental health services.
According to her, they provide invaluable aid to exorcists. Based on Church instructions, they help determine if the person asking for an exorcism suffers from psychiatric issues or has caught a real case of the devils.
Alfieri added that the pandemic has deepened people’s fear of the unknown. In this environment, it’ll be increasingly important to give mental health professionals instruction on how the Church handles exorcisms.
“The task of a psychiatrist within the group of auxiliaries of an exorcist will be deepened,” said Alfieri.
“The exorcistic practice acts on a border area between the corporeal and the spiritual. [It] therefore also implies attention to the point of view of medicine, which was also clear to the exorcists of [past] centuries.”
Satan’s Playground
Both the exorcists and psychiatrists have their work cut out for them. Practically all attendants at the exorcism course reported seeing an increase in calls over the last year.
In part, the exorcists’ inability to do their job over the past year has fueled the boom. With social distancing and lockdown rules in effect, they haven’t been able to attend to people in person.
This has given Old Nick free reign to wreak havoc on Christian souls, some of the priests say.
“There are many cases of those who could not be seen due to the restrictions for COVID and who are now turning to us,” said Father Cesare Truqui, one of the course’s organizers, during the event’s opening remarks.
But it’s not those who catch the coronavirus the priests are worried about. Father Michel de Certeau, a French priest, said people whose loved ones have died or who lost their livelihoods are particularly susceptible to demonic influence.
“The issue becomes more acute with social crises and acts a sort of symptomatic expression of unease that has no other way to express itself but through possession,” he explained.
Finally, Pope Francis himself may be partially responsible for the exorcism craze. While his predecessor, Benedict XVI, described Satan as a vague force of evil, Pope Francis has used more personal language when referring to the devil.
Magic Rites and Satanic Pedophilia
Although it was a significant topic, the Course on Exorcism wasn’t just about the pandemic. The focus of the event was actually on angels and devils and their descriptions in the scripture.
In addition, the priests attended seminars covering magical rites rooted in native beliefs, practiced in some parts of the Catholic world. Such rituals aren’t approved by the Church, and apparently it’s important for exorcists to know how to root out the heresy.
The final session of the event was more modern in topic. It covered the internet and the spread of child pornography linked to Satanic rituals.
According to the organizers, Satanic child abuse could become a significant issue in the post-pandemic world.
Seems there’s more to being an exorcist that chanting “the power of Christ compels you” over and over. Who knew?