Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Spirituality > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Spirituality

Vatican recognizes exorcists' association

By T.K. Randall
July 3, 2014 · Comment icon 21 comments

Vatican City. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Leinad-Z
The Holy See has taken steps to officially recognize the International Association of Exorcists.
The move is the strongest indicator yet that the Catholic Church continues to approve of exorcism, the controversial practice of evicting demons or spirits from a person who is believed to have been possessed.

The group, which now has over 250 members, was founded in 1990 by six priests including Father Gabriele Amorth who claims that he has performed more than 160,000 exorcisms.
"The approval by the Holy See is a joy not only for our association but for the church as a whole," said Father Francesco Bamonte. "We hope more priests will realize the existence of this dramatic reality, which is often ignored or underestimated. Exorcism benefits people who are suffering, and is doubtless a work of bodily and spiritual mercy."

Despite the alleged spiritual benefits however exorcisms have been regarded as dangerous by many psychologists and medical professionals who fear that potentially life-saving treatments may be delayed or withheld entirely from a person who is ill in favor of an exorcist's services.

Source: UPI | Comments (21)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #12 Posted by davros of skaro 10 years ago
No Witch burning jokes?
Comment icon #13 Posted by MysticStrummer 10 years ago
"Father Gabriele Amorth who claims that he has performed more than 160,000 exorcisms." At a rate of one per day, that would be 438 years of exorcisms for Father Gabriele. Just sayin' They installed a drive through lane years ago.
Comment icon #14 Posted by slaughtr 10 years ago
They should recognize it they been performing exorcism for years so why is this news. Half the world is infected with evil spirits and most don't know it.
Comment icon #15 Posted by Rafterman 10 years ago
The problem my friend is that these tragic events do happen in peoples lives. Good priest are the ones who deal with it, some to deadly effect on their lives. We are no more intelligent than our ancestors, though we have more understanding of science, in other areas we are perhaps more deficient. Peace mark No the real tragedy is that you can fill volumes with the stories of those who were abused, tortured, and killed because of this nonsense - many of whom were children and mentally ill. The fact that an organization in 2014 would embrace this Dark Ages superstition simply for the sake of pus... [More]
Comment icon #16 Posted by DeWitz 10 years ago
No the real tragedy is that you can fill volumes with the stories of those who were abused, tortured, and killed because of this nonsense - many of whom were children and mentally ill. The fact that an organization in 2014 would embrace this Dark Ages superstition simply for the sake of pushing their Dark Ages mythology is sickening frankly. Perhaps both perspectives have validity?
Comment icon #17 Posted by Rafterman 10 years ago
Perhaps both perspectives have validity? No one has ever been injured or killed by a demon. Hundreds of thousands have been injured and killed by exorcisms. So what's the real danger?
Comment icon #18 Posted by mskate 10 years ago
where do you get your information from Rafterman? I mean, how do you know this ? you can't just wirte that & have people believe you ??
Comment icon #19 Posted by pallidin 10 years ago
Of course, one first should determine if possession by demons(or other spiritual influence) is real. Unfortunately this is not something that Science can currently answer. For myself, I do believe it is real, but somewhat rare in extreme cases. Or is it "rare" ? Perhaps it's much more common than we think. I don't know...
Comment icon #20 Posted by Mr Supertypo 10 years ago
good...kudos for the vatican. :-)
Comment icon #21 Posted by pallidin 10 years ago
I am not "strictly" Catholic... I tend more towards Protestant. But, I will say this. If I or other's close to me exhibit bizarre behavior not attributable to drugs or psychiatric disorders, and if things are getting really weird in their home, like furniture or such flying around, I will have no hesitation calling upon a Catholic exorcist. I truly feel that they have that aspect beyond others. Just my take on things...


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles