The continued rise of interest in occult and New Age movements has prompted representatives of the International Association of Exorcists (AIE) to ask Pope Leo XIV to ensure that every Catholic diocese in the world has “one or more” trained exorcists available for afflicted souls.EWTN News is reporting on a private audience that took place earlier this month between the Pope and Bishop Karel Orlita and Father Francesco Bamonte, president and vice president of the AIE. The meeting focused on the “unprecedented challenges” facing the ministry of exorcism. The group presented the Pope with a detailed report warning of a “painful and increasingly widespread situation of people seriously affected by the extraordinary action of the devil as a result of their involvement in occult sects.”
According to a statement released after the meeting, the AIE’s proposal for combating the rise in extraordinary demonic activity includes having one or more exorcists in all dioceses worldwide, seminary instruction on the “real existence and nature of the demonic world,” a brief course in exorcism ministry for newly appointed bishops to properly prepare them to oversee this ministry in their dioceses, mandatory prior training for priests designated as exorcists, and the proper modalities of collaboration between exorcists and doctors/psychiatrists/psychologists in these cases.
In an interview with ACI Prensa, Fr. Bamonte blamed the increased need for exorcists on the spread of occultism in its various forms, and of Satanism, which “unfortunately opens doors and windows to the extraordinary action of the devil in today’s world,” he explained. “This can cause grave suffering in those who imprudently turn to these practices, through possible cases of possession, vexation, obsession, or diabolical infestation.”
Fr. Bamonte warned that ignoring the extraordinary action of the devil runs the risk of “leaving the faithful without defense against serious spiritual attacks,” which would not only prolong their suffering, but also might encourage them to seek inappropriate solutions for these afflictions.
Some of these inappropriate solutions would include resorting to various forms of folk magic, modern witchcraft, wicca, New Age energy work such as Reiki and chakra balancing, smudging, crystals, uncrossing rituals (for curses), aura cleansings, the use of herbal and/or oil blends, and various divination practices such as tarot, runes and Ouija. These alternative approaches are often used because the afflicted may not interpret their spiritual distress to demonic entities but see it as some kind of imbalanced or negative energy or affects from ancestors.
All of the above present a complex landscape for Catholic exorcists to confront in their quest to provide this vital service to the children of God.
Commenting on this meeting was Father Chad Ripperger, an exorcist and priest of the Archdiocese of Denver, who said the increased need for exorcists is not due to more demons in the world, but to the people themselves who disregard Church teaching and act on their own dark impulses.
“The demons are empowered as more and more people commit evil deeds,” Father Ripperger told the New York Post. “If a person willingly becomes involved in these evil deeds, Satanism or witchcraft, the actions lead to a susceptibility to Satan’s influence so that he or she is easily manipulated and can be incited to do more evil things."
Regardless of why a person becomes entangled in Satan's web, they need to be cared for with compassion and mercy.
As Father Bamonte said, “The Church, as the family of God, has the task of caring for its members in all their needs, even the most extreme at the spiritual level; the priest exorcist is a pastor who offers this help,” he said.
He added that the absence of exorcists in a diocese constitutes “a harm” to the faithful, depriving them of specific sacramental assistance and weakening the Church’s ability to function as a true “family of God.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, the AIE presented the Pope with their publication, “Guidelines for the Ministry of Exorcism,” which has been reviewed by several dicasteries, as well as an image of St. Michael the Archangel from the sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo.
While meeting with the AIE in September of 2025, the Pope referred to the ministry of exorcist as “delicate” and yet “most necessary,” and encouraged priests “to live it both as a ministry of liberation and of consolation, accompanying the faithful truly possessed by the evil one with prayer and the invocation of Christ’s effective presence, so that (...) the Lord may grant victory over Satan.”
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