I didn't know it, but exorcism is making a (needed) comeback:
At the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI greeted Italian exorcists who, he disclosed, are currently holding their national convention. . .
The Roman Catholic Church has shown growing interest in exorcism in Italy.
In 1999, the Vatican issued its first updated ritual for exorcism since 1614 and warned that the devil is still at work.
The official Roman Catholic exorcism starts with prayers, a blessing and sprinkling of holy water, the laying on of hands on the possessed, and the making of the sign of the cross.
It ends with an "imperative formula" in which the devil is ordered to leave the possessed.
The formula begins: "I order you, Satan ”¦" It goes on to denounce Satan as "prince of the world" and "enemy of human salvation." It ends: "Go back, Satan."
A Vatican university announced last Thursday that for the second year running it will hold a course on exorcism and Satanism for Roman Catholic priests.
Link.
Thanks, Ignatius Insight.
