The Exorcist

Exorcist Father Gabirele Amorth 85, says the devil is at work in the Vatican. He's been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession. He's convinced that sex abuse scandals are proof that the devil is at work inside the Vatican and made the extraordinary comment that there are cardinals who do not believe in Jesus and bishops who are linked to the demon.


Father Amorth has just published Memoirs of an Exorcist, a series of interviews with Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti. But Father Jose Antonio Cucurull, a Rome-based exorcist said that he had "gone well beyond the evidence" in making these claims.



Father Amorth told La Repubblica that the devil is "pure spirit", invisible and manifests himself with blasphemies and afflictions in the person he possesses. "He can remain hidden or speak in different languages, transform himself or appear to be agreeable. At time he makes fun of me" he said.


He said that once it took six or seven of his assistants to hold down a possessed person. Those possessed often yelled and screamed and spat out nails or pieces of glass which he kept in a bag. "Anything can come out of their mouths - finger-length pieces or iron, but also rose petals".



He hopes that every diocese would eventually have a resident exorcist. Under Church Canon Law, any priest can perform exorcisms but in practice they are crried out by a chosen few trained in the rites. He said the 1973 film The Exorcist, although exaggerated, offered a substantially exact picture of possession.