Posted on 08/28/2006 2:05:21 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Stalin were possessed by the Devil, the Vatican's chief exorcist has claimed.
Father Gabriele Amorth who is Pope Benedict XVI's 'caster out of demons' made his comments during an interview with Vatican Radio.
Father Amorth said: "Of course the Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and entire populations.
"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil.
"You can tell by their behaviour and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders. That's why we need to defend society from demons."
According to secret Vatican documents recently released wartime pontiff Pope Pius XII attempted a "long distance" exorcism of Hitler which failed to have any effect.
Father Amorth said: "It's very rare that praying and attempting to carry out an exorcism from distance works.
"Of course you can pray for someone from a distance but in this case it would not have any effect.
"One of the key requirements for an exorcism is to be present in front of the possessed person and that person also has to be consenting and willing.
"Therefore trying to carry out an exorcism on someone who is not present, or consenting and willing would prove very difficult.
"However I have no doubt that Hitler was possessed and so it does not surprise me that Pope Pius XII tried a long distance exorcism."
In the past Father Amorth has also spoken out against the Harry Potter books, claiming that reading the novels of the teen wizard open children's minds to dabbling with the occult and black magic.
Father Amorth, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, said of the JK Rowling books:"Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."
He said that Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the satanic art" and added 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."
Father Amorth is said to have carried out more than 30,000 exorcisms in his career and his favourite film is, according to Italian newspapers The Exorcist.
Who created satan, knowing beforehand, what he would become?
The tendency of your argument lately with me (and others) seems to be that uyou want to make God the only free will in the Universe. The only one with the liberty to desire, or act. And therefore the only one with responsibility.
The astounding thing is that God did indeed make creatures with wills which could truly and effectively oppose his own. It is possible for us to oppose the will of God, and do it with consequences which are real, and indeed permanent.
As for resolving the paradox of human freedom and divine omniscience and oimnipotence: that's as impossible for YOU to do, as to look directly into your own eye.
Can you actually prove any of this, or is it what you believe?
In this case, of course God cannot be required to submit to examination under a microscope (or telescope) because He is the Creator of the physical Universe, and hence outside of its laws; in fact, He pervades and yet exceeds the Universe He made, and is outside of time and space.
However, He does reveal himself.
We can know something about His character by His works of art, just as we can know something about Shakespeare or Van Gogh or Michelangelo from the whole body of their works. In addition to this natural revelation, there is also supernatural revelation: the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets, through the words they spoke, through their recorded words, and through the Church, which is the guaranted interpreter of Scripture.
"Upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Such is the evidence.
I realize that not everybody accepts it, but that could not be because there is too little evidence, but rather too much for us to compass, since it includes the entire Cosmos. And more.
http://www.existence-of-god.com/
See especially the sidebar on the left, with the "problem of evil" and so forth.
One other thing I remember is how Muslim terrorists literally defecated all over a church they had been staying in during a sort of stand off, I think it was?
We were talking about evidence of free will, not the existence of God.
That's true, but they're related. Without God, there could be no free will, because all our thoughts and actions would be full explainable by irresistable deterministic materialistic causes, just like everything else in the Universe. Only God is free--- and those whome He creates in His image and likeness.
Of course it's true, because everything is relative to what we believe, and to what God wants.
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