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Father Gabriele Amorth, perhaps the best known Catholic exorcist in the world, has died at the age of 91, Italian media are reporting.Father Amorth, who frequently made headlines beyond the Diocese of Rome, where he was the official exorcist, had been hospitalized for several weeks for complications from pneumonia at the Saint Lucy Foundation Hospital in Rome, according to Corriere delle Sera.Born in Modena on May 1, 1925, Father Amorth joined the Society of St. Paul in Alba in 1947, and was ordained in Rome in 1951. In 1985, he was appointed exorcist of the Diocese of Rome by Cardinal Ugo Poletti.Over...

Don Gabriele Amorth recounts his mentor's advice on how to talk to the Devil. In 2012, the cause of beatification and canonization for Fr. Candido Amantini, a Passionist priest who served as the exorcist for the diocese of Rome for 36 years at the Scala Santa, was taken up in Rome. His most famous disciple (who is considered to be his successor) is 87 year old Don Gabriele Amorth, who wanted to participate in the opening ceremony of the process. The Pauline priest, who recently published the book, The Last Exorcist, wished to remember the Passionist Father and told us about the time when...

The Catholic Church's top exorcist, who claims to have sent 160,000 demons back to hell, says he wants Pope Francis to allow all priests to start performing the ritual to deal with a rising demand for exorcisms from the faithful. Father Gabriele Amorth, 88, who also heads the International Association of Exorcists, told The Sunday Times that he will ask Pope Francis to allow all priests the right to do exorcisms without the church's approval. According to the report, priests currently need special approval from their bishop to perform the rite and it is rarely granted. "I will ask the...

The Catholic Church's leading exorcist priest asserts that a Vatican employee's daughter thought to be buried in a mob boss's tomb was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties, reports Nick Pisa of the Daily Mail. Father Gabriel Amorth, who was ordained in 1954 and has carried out more than 70,000 exorcisms, made the claim to Italian newspaper La Stampa as police examine the contents of mobster Enrico De Pedis's tomb for clues about the 1983 disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi. Father Amorth, 85, noted that an archivist at the Vatican previously admitted to recruiting girls for parties and told La Stampa...

Fr. Gabriele Amorth Rome, Jun 6, 2008 / 11:10 am (CNA).- In an interview with the magazine “Maria Mensajera,” famous Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth said, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan” and that “the devil loves to take over those who hold political office.”The Spanish daily “La Razon” published the interview in an article by Alexander Smoltczyk in which the 82 year-old priest describes what happens in an exorcism.  He said he has performed more than 70,000.“Evil exists in politics, quite often in fact,” Father Amorth said.  “The devil loves to take over business leaders and...

Don Gabriele Amorth is the busiest exorcist in Europe. His job is to keep the Roman Pontiff free of demons. This is because, says the priest, the devil is abroad in the Vatican. SPIEGEL Author Alexander Smoltczyk has visited the priest - and to test out any demons. Rome - Everything goes wrong today. First, the Roman taxi drivers strike without any warning. Even the address specified cannot be found on the map plan of the city. Then the photographer calls and says that his camera had not charged. He must dismantle and repair it. All seems jinxed. "You are...

In recent times, an expert on angelology and demonology, the chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, wrote a most concise and lucid summation of the Franciscan thesis in his book An Exorcist Tells his Story. Before he ‘tells his story’, he begins by “first stating some basic facts about God’s plan for creation.” He writes (in Chapter 1): “All too often we have the wrong concept of creation, and we take for granted the following wrong sequence of events. We believe that one day God created the angels; that He put them to the test, although...

An open conflict has erupted in the Church between exorcists who believe that demons can cause many maladies, especially mental ones, and psychologists who all but dismiss exorcism as a product of the Middle Ages, according to a new book by Los Angeles Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson. The volume, entitled The Vatican's Exorcists, marshals a highly secular and often skeptical view of exorcisms at the same time that it presents fascinating facts on priests who administer the rite in places like Rome and those who have suffered from demonic oppression. The conflict -- psychology versus demonology -- has penetrated the...

Vatican's Chief Exorcist Repeats Condemnation of Harry Potter Novel ROME, March 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Vatican's chief exorcist, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, is reported to have repeated his condemnations of the Harry Potter novels yesterday.  According to press reports, Fr. Amorth, said of the books, "You start off with Harry Potter, who comes across as a likeable wizard, but you end up with the Devil. There is no doubt that the signature of the Prince of Darkness is clearly within these books."  "By reading Harry Potter a young child will be drawn into magic and from there it is a...

Rome's Chief Exorcist Warns Parents Against Harry Potter NEW YORK, Jan 2, 02 (LSN.ca) - In early December, Rome's official exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, warned parents against the Harry Potter book series. The priest, who is also the president of the International Association of Exorcists, said Satan is behind the works. In an interview with the Italian ANSA news agency, Father Amorth said, "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil." The exorcist, with his decades of experience in directly combating evil, explained that J.K. Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the...

Twenty-nine years have passed since that day, June 29 1972. It was the Feast of Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles. It was the Feast of Saint Paul who brought the Gospel of Christ to the extreme corners of the West. On that day, June 29, Feast of the Patron Saints of Rome, Peter’s successor who had taken the name of Paul issued a dramatic warning. Paul VI spoke of God’s enemy supreme, that enemy of man called Satan, enemy of the Church. “The smoke of Satan”, warned Paul VI, “has found its way into the Church through the fissures”....

Twenty-nine years have passed since that day, June 29 1972. It was the Feast of Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles. It was the Feast of Saint Paul who brought the Gospel of Christ to the extreme corners of the West. On that day, June 29, Feast of the Patron Saints of Rome, Peter’s successor who had taken the name of Paul issued a dramatic warning. Paul VI spoke of God’s enemy supreme, that enemy of man called Satan, enemy of the Church. “The smoke of Satan”, warned Paul VI, “has found its way into the Church through the fissures”....

December, 28, 2005Dear Friend,            A warm handshake, the touching of each cheek in turn (in true Italian style), and the words, “We are doing the same mission for our Lord Jesus Christ.”            That moment bridged a gap of centuries. Five hundred years ago I would not have been standing in the Vatican and a priest might have called for my death as a heretic. But this day in December, 2005, was a day of reconciliation and embracing on common ground–the belief in waging spiritual war through exorcism, deliverance, and healing. St. Peter's Basilica. The largest church in the world.            ...