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ODESSA, Texas (AP) - A man accused of killing his wife says he was trying to exorcise a demon from her when the devil entered his body and caused her to die, according to a police probable cause statement. Jan David Clark, 60, was arrested Friday after authorities went to his home and found Susan Kay Clark's body wrapped in a bed sheet with a cross and sword on top of it. Officers had gone to the home after being told that Clark had called a friend and said his 59-year-old wife was dead, said Sgt. Gary Duesler said the...

Don Gabriele Amorth is the busiest exorcist in Europe. His job is to keep the Roman Pontiff free of demons. This is because, says the priest, the devil is abroad in the Vatican. SPIEGEL Author Alexander Smoltczyk has visited the priest - and to test out any demons. Rome - Everything goes wrong today. First, the Roman taxi drivers strike without any warning. Even the address specified cannot be found on the map plan of the city. Then the photographer calls and says that his camera had not charged. He must dismantle and repair it. All seems jinxed. "You are...

Satanism on the rise: Pope Benedict has unveiled plans to set up specialist exorcism squads The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism. Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult. They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of "Godlessness." Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession. The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican "exorcistinchief," to the online Catholic...

VATICAN CITY, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The Vatican is denying reports it plans to install more exorcists around the world so possessed people can get help quickly. "Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of ordering local bishops to bring in garrisons of exorcists to fight demonic possession,'' Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters in Rome Friday. On Thursday, the Roman Catholic Web site Petrus said the pope planned to install more exorcists in every diocese next year and reintroduce a prayer during mass to St. Michael the Archangel, believed to be the prime protector against evil, The Telegraph in Britain...

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism. Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult. They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of "Godlessness." Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession. The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican "exorcistinchief," to the online Catholic news service Petrus. "Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to...

Audience members at Church of the Annunciation, Rosedale, were so intently focused on Father Thomas J. Euteneuer’s exorcism talk Oct. 21, that when someone in the crowd muffled a sneeze – they flinched. About 130 people attended “An Evening with an Exorcist,” listening carefully as Father Euteneuer talked about how demons target their victims and how an exorcism takes place. Father Euteneuer, a priest for the Palm Beach, Fla., diocese who is living in the Archdiocese of Arlington, Va., said he’s been involved in exorcisms for nearly five years and has performed three or four that expelled demons as well...

PHOENIX — Officers responding to a report of an exorcism on a young girl found her grandfather choking her and used stun guns to subdue the man, who later died, authorities said Sunday. The 3-year-old girl and her mother, who was also in the room during the struggle between 49-year-old Ronald Marquez and officers, were hospitalized, police said. Their condition was unavailable. The relative who called police said an exorcism had also been attempted Thursday. "The purpose was to release demons from this very young child," Sgt. Joel Tranter said. Officers arrived at the house Saturday and entered when they...

Baptism and the usus antiquior I have carried out a Baptism once or twice using the older form and preferred it greatly to the rather didactic and plodding ceremonies of the newer rite. Looking through it again today confirmed me in the view that it is so much more, well, "pastoral". It is a relief to drop the liturgical re-education necessary to prevent the mother handing the baby over to the Godmother for the ceremony. The "exorcism" in the newer rite is as bland as possible in contrast to the older rite's determined exorcisms, warning the devil in the name...

A Westminster family planning doctor prescribed an exorcism to a patient seeking contraceptive advice, a medical tribunal has heard. Dr Joyce Pratt, 44, is said to have told the woman she was possessed by an evil spirit and had "something moving inside her". The patient - known as Mrs K for the hearing - mentioned she was experiencing pain and bleeding during an appointment for a routine contraceptive injection, the General Medical Council heard. During the "bizarre" consultation at Westside Contraceptive Services in Westminster, Dr Pratt told Mrs K she would use her "black magic powers" to help her, the...

An open conflict has erupted in the Church between exorcists who believe that demons can cause many maladies, especially mental ones, and psychologists who all but dismiss exorcism as a product of the Middle Ages, according to a new book by Los Angeles Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson. The volume, entitled The Vatican's Exorcists, marshals a highly secular and often skeptical view of exorcisms at the same time that it presents fascinating facts on priests who administer the rite in places like Rome and those who have suffered from demonic oppression. The conflict -- psychology versus demonology -- has penetrated the...

"[Prior to Vatican II, w]hen holy water [was] blessed, the priest reads several prayers, which included an exorcism of the salt and the water. An exorcism is the banishing of evil spirits......therefore, when any material object is to be devoted to the service of God, the Church often prescribes for it a form of exorcism, to free it from the power of the Evil One....... Exorcism of Salt O salt, creature of God, I exorcise you by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God, by the God who ordered you to be poured into the water...

A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons. "The devil doesn't like Latin," writes Tracy Wilkinson in The Vatican's Exorcists. "That is one of the first things I learned from Father Gabriele Amorth, long known as Rome's chief exorcist, even though that has never been his formal title. "Now past the age of eighty, Father Amorth has dedicated the last decades of his life to regaining a measure of respectability for exorcism. Despite his advancing age, he continues to perform the rite several times a week at his office in Rome. "Scores of people seek him out....

The Advocate vs. The Accuser In a few months I will publish a book on exorcism and deliverance by which I hope to educate the Church Militant on the reality of spiritual evil and the truth of the ChurchÂ’s power against it. On this weekend where our Church celebrates Pentecost, the great Feast of the Holy Spirit, I offer an excerpt from this upcoming book to highlight the influence of the Holy Spirit in defending our cause against the accusing spirit of the devil. If we are to fight for the salvation of souls, we must know our enemy and...

Litchfield, Conn., is the kind of place a lot of people might choose to raise a family. Among its other appealing qualities, Litchfield has a microscopically low crime rate, as in other suburban communities across America. 'The Grip of the Devil' But no town can be protected from all things evil. Some time ago in this peaceful community, wife and mother Pat Reading felt as though she were possessed by satanic spirits. In a series of exorcisms, a local bishop tried to free her from what they saw as the grip of the devil. Reading's then-teenage daughter Michelle Reading witnessed...

Romanian priest sentenced for exorcism Mon Feb 19, 10:47 AM ET BUCHAREST, Romania - A Romanian priest who led a dayslong exorcism ritual for a young nun that ended with the woman's death was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison. Four nuns were also sentenced in the case. The dead nun, Maricica Irina Cornici, believed she heard the devil talking to her. She was treated for schizophrenia, but when she relapsed, Daniel Petru Corogeanu — a monk who served as the priest for the secluded Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania — and the four other nuns tried exorcism....

A Romanian priest has been sentenced to 14 years in prison today after a nun died during an exorcism ritual. Sister Maricica Irina Cornici, 23, who was being treated for schizophrenia, said she believed the devil was talking to her. Daniel Petru Corogeanu, a monk who served as the priest for a secluded Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania, and four other nuns, chained Cornici to a cross in an attempt at exorcism. She survived several days without food or water, but died of dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation. The court in the northeast city of Vaslui convicted Corogeanu and the...

Los Angeles-A man accused of trying to exorcise the devil from a "Days of Our Lives" star after bursting into his Malibu backyard pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of battery and entering private property without permission. In addition, a judge granted a restrainging order sought by actor Drake Hogestyn against Carl Raymond Cheney of Oregon, who entered his plea Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

1. What is an exorcism?Q: I saw your article about a post-exorcism experience on Spirit Daily. Just what is an exorcism and is it anything like the movies? Exorcisms are rarely similar to what is portrayed in the movies such as The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose (see below). There are certainly points of comparison, but Hollywood needs theatrics to dress up or sensationalize an experience of something extraordinary like the supernatural battle against evil. The exaggerations of Hollywood only serve to diminish our sense of the reality of evil and the existence of the devil.... Fundamentally, an...

The Holy See has warned that there will be “serious consequences” for a rebel African archbishop if reports that he is to work with the author of the Da Vinci Code on a new novel about exorcisms are true. Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the unpredictable African faith healer and exorcist, is reported to have agreed to work with Dan Brown on the project. The agreement was said to have been reached at a meeting in Houston, Texas, attended by representatives of Dan Brown, Sony Pictures, Random House publishing company and Target, an American company which intends to finance the film. Participants...

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.To believe in exorcism you must first believe in the devil. Exorcism is the act of driving out or warding off evil spirits from persons, places, or things. The means employed for this purpose are especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demons, commanding them in the name of God to leave the person or the object which is under their malevolent influence. Among polytheistic religions the use of protective means against the molestation of evil spirits is an essential part of their worship of the deities. The benevolent gods are invoked for whatever...