It surprised me that “The Exorcist” author was an expert on Canonical Law and filed this.
It shouldn’t. If you read the ‘Exorcist’ you would find that Canonical Law is talked about and discussed quite a bit while the Diocese decides weather to allow an Exorcism to take place.
It is a very explicit set of steps that must be followed to allow an Exorcism to take place as the Church is very engaged as to weather an underlying mental illness is to blame for the problem.