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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...

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...

Priests get lesson in exorcism Lack of qualified clergy prompts Vatican class ROME – The Roman Catholic Church is facing a shortage that you might not have heard about: qualified exorcists. Thursday, about 100 priests rose in prayer, asked St. Mary for protection, then sat down to an eight-week study of exorcism and how to distinguish and fight true demonic possession. The course at Rome’s Regina Apostolorum, a prestigious pontifical university, represents the first time a Vatican-sanctioned study at this level has been dedicated to exorcism. In Italy, the number of official exorcists has soared in the past 20 years...

It was the first day of school, so some students were understandably nervous. But then again, they were not taking just any course, but one run by a Vatican university to teach aspiring demonologists and exorcists."There is no doubt that the devil is intervening more in the life of man these days," Father Paolo Scarafoni told the students, most of them priests who want to learn how to tackle the demon if they should ever encounter him."Not all of you will become exorcists but it is indispensable that every priest knows how to discern between demonic possession and psychological problems,"...

Italian Exorcists Dispel Misconceptions Evangelization Seen as Main Task COLLEVALENZA, Italy, SEPT. 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The primary task of the exorcist is to proclaim the Gospel, said a congress of the Association of Italian Exorcists. "The Exorcist in the New Evangelization" was the theme of the eighth meeting of Italian exorcists held in Collevalenza, in the province of Perugia, attended by 180 members of the association. In statements to the Italian newspaper Avvenire, Father Giancarlo Gramolazzo, president of the International Association of Exorcists, said: "There is much disinformation today on the role of the exorcist; sadly, the media shows this...