{"id":832,"date":"2014-05-12T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=832"},"modified":"2014-05-14T00:35:31","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T22:35:31","slug":"witness-to-an-exorcism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=832","title":{"rendered":"Witness to an Exorcism"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Laura Helmuth, Slate<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Old-school Satan is making a comeback in the Catholic Church. The\u00a0Washington Postpublished\u00a0a fascinating story<\/a>\u00a0over the weekend about Pope Francis and his understanding of the devil. The past several popes and many modern theologians have downplayed Satan\u2019s significance, but according to a bishop who spoke anonymously to writer\u00a0Anthony Faiola<\/a>, \u201cPope Francis never stops talking about the Devil; it\u2019s constant.\u201d And Francis isn\u2019t preaching about the metaphorical devil of temptation and evil and bad decisions, but a supernatural entity engaged in guerrilla warfare against the church and the faithful. As the bishop observes, \u201chad Pope Benedict done this, the media would have clobbered him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One result of this emphasis on the devil is a new respect for exorcists. Last week the Vatican hosted its largest convention on exorcism, which Faiola attended; it was the first time media have been allowed into such a conference. The story is full of rich details and observations, and you should\u00a0read the whole thing<\/a>. Here\u2019s a teaser:<\/p>\n

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During the conference, the Rev. Cesar Truqui, an exorcist based in Switzerland, recounted one experience he had aboard a Swissair flight. \u201cTwo lesbians,\u201d he said, had sat behind him on the plane. Soon afterward, he said, he felt Satan\u2019s presence. As he silently sought to repel the evil spirit through prayer, one of the women, he said, began growling demonically and threw chocolates at his head.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Asked how he knew the woman was possessed, he said that \u201conce you hear a Satanic growl, you never forget it. It\u2019s like smelling Margherita pizza for the first time. It\u2019s something you never forget.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Faiola\u2019s story gets even more dramatic, though\u2014he witnessed a full, official exorcism, something involving five demons, a purple sash, and a lot of Latin. I talked to him about how he reported this respectful, insightful, revealing story. (The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the\u00a0<\/strong>photo gallery<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that ran online in the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0to accompany your story, it looked like there were a lot of young people at the exorcism conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anthony Faiola:<\/strong>\u00a0We found that a lot of young priests, especially from Africa and Latin America, are interested in pursuing vocations in exorcism. They\u2019re not officially exorcists yet, but most had some observational experience with exorcisms that had happened in their dioceses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s an incredibly hard thing in the Catholic Church to get an appointment as an exorcist. Some bishops out there officially buy into exorcism but unofficially don\u2019t. The \u201cordinary,\u201d the bishop or governing authority, has to appoint one, otherwise the exorcist can\u2019t be considered official. What these guys are hoping to do is to break into the field. There are only about 500 to 600 exorcists worldwide, which seems to be a startlingly low number given how large the church is. But some dioceses are really upping their number, ostensibly because the bishops are seeing high demand\u2014more people insist that they are possessed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The lesbian detail in the Cesar Truqui story seems significant. Was there much talk of gays and lesbians at the conference?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0No. I had not heard others speak in that way. It was just an odd thing to pick out: How could he possibly know? He didn\u2019t say whether or not they kissed or were holding hands. But he suggested they had pronounced themselves as being gay. This was in the middle of a talk, one of the lectures at the conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Did he say how the story ended? Did he cast out their demons?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0If I remember correctly, at some point in the flight, he stood up, looked at them, and they both looked at him with a look that he felt indicated they had been reading his mind. That was how he was communicating with them. He sensed a malevolent force and started praying\u2014prayers for liberation, used to fight off demons\u2014when he got chocolate thrown at him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At some point, he seemed to suggest, the confrontation stopped. On an enclosed airplane, there was only so much he could do. In addition, he wouldn\u2019t have been able to do an exorcism on a plane at random. Exorcisms have to be sanctioned by a diocese. He couldn\u2019t spring into action; he had to do a minimal level of prayer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s interesting: There are scales of prayers. Some prayers are considered outright exorcisms, others are used to ward off evil spirits in a less direct way. He was using one of those lower-grade prayers.<\/p>\n

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How did you get permission to witness the exorcism?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0It took some negotiating to see the exorcism itself, to get sanctioned to go see it. The exorcist has to get various permissions. Father Amorth is so senior that he takes it upon itself to make these decisions. He\u2019s been press-friendly in the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Stefano Pitrelli, an Italian journalist who helps us out in Rome, arranged our\u00a0first meeting with\u00a0Father Amorth. He\u00a0accompanied me throughout the process and\u00a0was\u00a0really a huge help in getting access to the\u00a0exorcism.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Has a reporter ever witnessed an exorcism before?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0I wasn\u2019t able to find any other journalist who had done it before. I\u2019ve been talking to Italian journalists who were shocked that we had actually been able to get permission to do it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Apparently there was one Spanish film crew that pretended to be members of the church who wanted to help out and filmed one. That was a big burn for a lot of exorcists. Most of them are just not very media friendly, with the exception of Amorth. They\u2019re afraid of being mocked, and they\u2019re just a little cautious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We had to get permission from the woman before the priest would allow us to observe the exorcism. She gave permission as long as we agreed to use her first name only and not cite her age or other details. She has two little kids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What was it like to witness an exorcism?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

AF:\u00a0<\/strong>When we walked into the room, the priest was consoling her in the corner of this converted kitchen where all sorts of images of Mary and Jesus Christ were strung up. I didn\u2019t get the feeling that the woman was uneasy because of our presence there. There were a couple of other observers in the room who were somehow associated with the priest and three helpers with him that day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s a bit surreal: At one moment he\u2019s chanting in Latin, and the helpers are saying rounds of Ave Maria, so you\u2019ve got an odd vocalization happening in the room.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The woman was quiet for five minutes before there were any signs of metamorphosis. Then she started grunting, burping, coughing up phlegm, and her characteristics became more what you would expect in a movie. He started making the sign of a cross, and she was physically repelled from his touch. She was obviously made uncomfortable by any religious gestures. That\u2019s when the drama really escalated: The priest asked, \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d calling the demons out. Making it answer questions is supposed to be a sign of the devil\u2019s submission to the priest\u2019s authority. He got the name Asmodeus. In the world of exorcism, there is only one Satan but many lesser demons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The priest asks several really arcane questions. His voice starts escalating, his gestures become more dramatic and reach some sort of a climax. She looked like she was ready to vomit. Gradually she regressed and came out of her trancelike state. The whole thing took about 40 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Apparently she\u2019s been participating in exorcisms for years?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0I used to think exorcisms were just a one-shot deal, but they\u2019re not at all. Apparently it takes years for these cleansings to happen. She said she started coming to the priest four years ago, when she was in the throes of her most violent stages. They told us it would take two or three men to hold her down. She was provoked by someone praying for her, or a church, or a religious object. Over four years, she has not been cleansed, not yet. But the demons have been greatly weakened, as they put it, so their power to influence her, in their minds, has weakened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Whatever works, I guess?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0There would be critics who say she needs serious psychiatric help. She insists she has had that, but I can\u2019t estimate how serious those evaluations really were. She also said that it took her a while to get permission to go to the exorcist, which goes back to the fact that not every bishop in the church embraces exorcism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How do you follow up a story like this?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AF:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019ve been with the paper for 20 years, and this is probably my most bizarre assignment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Laura Helmuth, Slate Old-school Satan is making a comeback in the Catholic Church. The\u00a0Washington Postpublished\u00a0a fascinating story\u00a0over the weekend about Pope Francis and his understanding of the devil. The past several popes and many modern theologians have downplayed Satan\u2019s significance, but according to a bishop who spoke anonymously to writer\u00a0Anthony Faiola, \u201cPope Francis never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[17,11],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-ritagli","tag-interviste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}