Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan

Daily Mail ^ | 29th December 2007 | NICK PISA

[citizen]

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult.

They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of "Godlessness."

Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession.

The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican "exorcistinchief," to the online Catholic news service Petrus.

"Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on," he said.

"Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist.

"Thankfully, Benedict XVI believes in the existence and danger of evil - going back to the time he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." The CDF is the oldest Vatican department and was headed by Benedict from 1982, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, until he became Pope in 2005.

Father Amorth said...

[ottbmare]

I’m sorry, your implication is that the meaning of the phrase is something rude or coarse? I didn’t know that. I apologize, I meant NO disrespect to the Holy Father, whose book I am currently reading with the greatest enjoyment.

[OKSooner]

Don’t google it or it will bring bad things to your computer.

[ottbmare]

I’m sorry, I thought it had something to do with basketball or hockey. Mea maxima culpa.

[BipolarBob]

Didn’t they do this during The Inquisition?

[eleni121]

This can ony help combat evil rampant among the faithless.

IN Russia within the Russian Orthodox Church, exorcisms are being done with great success.

http://paranormal.about.com/library/bl_exorcism_video.htm

[Crolis]

Now I hope this prayer about St. Michael is true. I really do as our world needs all the help that prayer can muster.

Well, I can only speak for my Parish, but at Our Lady of Hope in Potomac Falls, VA, the prayer to St. Michael is said after the dismissal in Mass. It was the first time I encountered it and I hope the practice spreads.

For those who are not familiar with the prayer:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

There is some interesting history behind this prayer when I looked it up on Wikipedia at this link:

Prayer to St. Michael

[free_life]

Mar 16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Mar 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

Mar 16:17 "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

Mar 16:18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

If you are Christian [not just a member of some religion that use the term 'christian'] you can and should be casting out demons. Forget the hollywood and RCC nonsense and DO what Jesus has told you to do.

[omega4179]

I wish... but the Vat has already denied this story.

[Proud2BeRight]

“The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.”

So there is such a thing? I thought it was only part of Hollywood horror flicks.

[Clintonfatigued]

This was going on big time in the early 1970’s. What makes anyone think there’s more interest now?

[hippyhater]

The Catholic Church needs to look no further then its own backyard for evil... just sayin

[MSSC6644]

Kewl. Where do I sign up for training?

Any Catholic seminary can get you started. Of course, the price for the full course is quite substantial.

[fabian]

your welcome...it has helped me so much to see the devil working in thoughts and words in my head and that the light has power over it if we don’t struggle with it.

[romanesq]

Appreciate it much. Real quiet meditation is the complementary side to prayer that somehow has been lost by much of the religious discussion.

I went to the website and downloaded to my computer. Now I don’t need to track down the cassette.

Now I don’t know about evil working with your thoughts. Most of what I’ve gotten is I believe from the good part of the Lord’s intent. But the conditioning that comes with childhood does need a nice airing out that people are not aware of how comes into play with their reactions and emotions.

Thanks again much for helping me to find and get back to this.

[fabian]

your welcome