Exorcism is a ministry of joy, light, and peace, new guide says

July 30, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Rome, Italy, Jul 30, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- Exorcism is not an obscure practice shrouded in darkness, but a ministry filled with light, peace, and joy, according to a new guide for Catholic exorcists.

“When implemented in situations of real diabolical possession and according to the norms established by the Church — inspired by genuine faith and necessary prudence — [exorcism] manifests its salvific, positive character, characterized by a living experience of purity, light and peace,” Fr. Francesco Bamonte wrote in the book’s introduction.

“The ‘dominant note,’ we could say, is made up of joy, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus to those who welcome his Word with confidence,” he continued.

Bamonte is the president of the International Association of Exorcists (AIE), which prepared the new book with the approval of the Congregation for Clergy and with contributions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Divine Worship.

“Guidelines for the Ministry of Exorcism: In Light of the Current Ritual” was published in Italian in May. The AIE told CNA that an English language edition is currently under review by the Congregation for Clergy and the association expects it to be available by the end of 2020 or in early 2021.

The book is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject of exorcism, but was written as a tool for exorcist priests or priests in formation to be exorcists.

It can also be used by bishops’ conferences and dioceses to help facilitate discernment “in cases of faithful who consider themselves in need of the ministry of exorcists, since this type of request is increasing,” Bamonte said.

In the book’s preface, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, said that “the exorcist cannot proceed at his own discretion, since he works within the framework of an official mission that makes him in some way representative of Christ and the Church.”

“The ministry of the exorcist is particularly delicate,” he says. “Exposed to multiple dangers, it requires special prudence, the result not only of right intention and goodwill, but also of a suitable specific preparation, which the exorcist is obliged to receive to adequately carry out his office.”

There is a “notable increase” in fascination with exorcism in the Western world, especially with demonic possession and the role of the Catholic exorcist “in the demanding task of freeing from it,” Bamonte pointed out.

“In some cultural circles, a peremptory description of Catholic exorcism continues as if it were a rough, violent reality, almost as obscure as the practice of magic, which we want to oppose, but, lastly, ending up putting it on the same level as occult practices,” he said.

The priest said it was impossible to understand this ministry without belief in Jesus and his Church.

“Pretending to understand Catholic exorcism without having a living faith in Christ and what he, in the revelation given to the Church, teaches us about Satan and the demonic world, is like wanting to deal with second degree equations without knowing the four basic operations of mathematics and their properties,” he stated.

This is why it is necessary “to always go back to the sources of our ministry,” he continued, “which does not arise at all from the fear of witches, from the desire to oppose magic or from the will to impose a specific religious vision at the expense of other different conceptions about God and the world, but solely and only from what Jesus said and from what he first did, giving the apostles and their successors the mission to continue his own work.”

The International Association of Exorcists includes around 800 exorcist members around the world. It was founded more than 30 years ago by a group of exorcists, led by Fr. Gabriel Amorth, who died in 2016. The association was formally recognized by the Vatican in 2014.

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Unity is more than ‘bland uniformity,’ Pope tells Orthodox

June 27, 2017 CNA Daily News 3

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2017 / 04:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met with a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, saying their journey toward full communion is one that ought to respect their unique traditions – rather than a uniformity that would, in the end, make the Church more boring.

“Peter and Paul, as disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ, served the Lord in very different ways,” the Pope said June 27.

“Yet in their diversity, both bore witness to the merciful love of God our Father, which each in his own fashion profoundly experienced, even to the sacrifice of his own life.”

Because of this, since ancient times the Church in the East and in the West has celebrated the feast of the two Apostles together, he said, adding that it is right to jointly commemorate “their self-sacrifice for love of the Lord, for it is at the same time a commemoration of unity and diversity.”

Pope Francis spoke to a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, who are currently in Rome for the June 29 celebration of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The Pope is particularly close to the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, and has met with their Patriarch, Bartholomew I, several times since his election in 2013.

In his address to the delegation, Francis said the traditional exchange of delegations on the feast of their patrons is something that “increases our desire for the full restoration of communion between Catholics and Orthodox.”

This, he said, is something “which we already have a foretaste in fraternal encounter, shared prayer and common service to the Gospel.”

He noted how in the first millennium, Christians of both the East and West were able to share the same Eucharist and preserve the essential truths of the faith while at the same time cultivating and exchanging a variety of theological, canonical and spiritual traditions founded on the teaching of the apostles and the ecumenical councils.

“That experience,” Francis said, “is a necessary point of reference and a source of inspiration for our efforts to restore full communion in our own day, a communion that must not be a bland uniformity.”

Francis then noted how this year marks 50 years since Blessed Pope Paul VI visited Istanbul’s Phanar district in July 1967, where the seat of the ecumenical patriarchate is located, to visit Patriarch Athenagoras, as well as the visit of  Athenagoras to Rome in October of the same year.

“The example of these courageous and farsighted pastors, moved solely by love for Christ and his Church, encourages us to press forward in our journey towards full unity,” Francis said.

The Pope then expressed his gratitude for the many occasions on which he has been able to meet with Patriarch Bartholomew, which have taken place largely during his various trips and ecumenical prayer events.

At the end of his speech, Pope Francis noted that in September, a meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church will take place in Leros, Greece.

He voiced his hope that the event “will take place in a spiritual climate of attentiveness to the Lord’s will and in a clear recognition of the journey already being made together by many Catholic and Orthodox faithful in various parts of the world, and that it will prove most fruitful for the future of ecumenical dialogue.”

The Pope closed by voicing his hope that with the intercession of Saints Peter, Paul and Andrew, through mutual prayer they would become “instruments of communion and peace.”

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