When you look at Father Amorth’s history, you see a man who is well respected within the Church. Though exorcists were not largely used by the church until recent years when they made a major comeback, the title was always held with some level of reverence within the Vatican. And now the chief exorcist, 85 year old Father Gabriele Amorth, has declared that the devil is residing in the Vatican.
Amorth’s career within the church has led him through over 70,000 exorcisms, in which he describes horrific and sometimes disturbing incidents candidly. He says that the possessed will expel shards of glass and iron from their mouths with no discernable source other than within their bodies. He says the possessed are imbued with superhuman strength sometimes disproportional to the size of their bodies. It is said that sometimes the possessed must be held down by several full grown people even if the possessed is relatively small. He recalls one incident in which a young woman was possessed, and during the exorcism she was almost able to throw twelve full grown men from her presence as though they were rag-dolls. Amorth also says the demonically possessed can appear sympathetic and kind, but always eventually reveal their true ambitions eventually. He reports seeing rose petals shoot out from the mouths of those who have been possessed as well. His reputation was so well respected within the Catholic Church that he was appointed head exorcist, where he has remained for 25 years, even up to the time of Pope Benedict XVI, which has seen a dramatic increase to the amount of exorcisms which the church performs.
And now he has recently come out with a new book, Memoirs of an Exorcist, which was recently published, in which he describes his career and life “cleansing victims of demonic possession.” He also says that the devil can possess one person, or several people at a time. In fact, he says both Hitler and Stalin were demonically possessed and even most of the Nazis were under the influence of demons during the holocaust years. He says that the assault by a mentally disturbed woman on Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve as well as the sex scandals within the Catholic church have been the result of demonic possession. And his intention, he says, is to help cleanse the church of its demonic tormentor.
Of course none of these claims are new. The church has for years been suspected of having demonic forces attempting to manipulate it, and of course understandably any scandal within is blamed on the forces of evil, which is not a new thing for any organization to do. Of course the latest demonic possession claims are coming from such a high source now, that several both within and outside of the church are taking notice. What if there was an evil influence attempting to wrest control of the church? The implications are staggering, but (as with any faith based organization) it’s important to watch avenues of communication closely. As it stands no one person can speak for the whole of an establishment such as the church without expecting conflict within.