Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Vatican Exorcist Amorth Passes Away

Well known Catholic exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth has passed away at age 91.  Amorth was the co founder of the International Association of Exorcist and was the organization's honorary president for life.

Amorth wrote a book about his experiences battling possessions.  The book, "An Exorcist Tells His Story" was a bestseller in Europe and also did well in the United States.

Amorth was considered "outspoken" but also controversial.  He openly stated that both Stalin and Hitler had been possessed by the devil, but in recent years, his crusades have been pointed at such pop culture stables as the Harry Potter books and films, which he said taught children black magic, and yoga which he claimed was the devil's work.

Father Amorth reported that he had conducted between 70,000 and 160,000 exorcisms in the course of his career.  

He did however, state that during that time, he had only encountered about a hundred cases of genuine possession.  Those who were truly possessed would vomit iron and shards of glass he stated. (The priest had a collection of items he said had been issued in this manner during exorcisms he had conducted.) Most people who came to him simply needed spiritual guidance and an assurance that they were free of demonic influence.  Amorth stated:

"Most times, there's no actual diabolical presence, and my job lies in suggesting to those that come to me to live a life of faith and prayer.  And this is enough to assuage the fears of those afraid of the devil's ills."

The organization that Amorth co-founded, the "International Association of Exorcists" was officially recognized by the Vatican in 2014.



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