Catholic Church sets up an exorcist hotline to deal with demand

[rug]

By Michael Day
Friday, 30 November 2012

The Catholic Church has established an exorcist hotline in Milan, its biggest diocese, to cope with demand. Monsignor Angelo Mascheroni, the diocese’s chief exorcist since 1995, said the curia had also appointed twice as many exorcists to cope with a doubling in the number of requests for help over 15 years.

“We get many requests for names, addresses and phone numbers; that’s why we’ve set up a switchboard in the curia from Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 5pm,” he told the chiesadimilano website.

“People in need can call and will be able to find a priest in the same area who doesn’t have to travel too far.” And to that end, the number of demon-busting priests on call has increased from six to 12.

The Monsignor said he knew of one exorcist who had been seeing up to 120 people a day. “But with so little time per client he was only able to offer a quick blessing. That’s not enough,” he said. ”There should be two to four appointments a day, no more, otherwise it’s too much.”

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/catholic-church-sets-up-an-exorcist-hotline-to-deal-with-demand-16244656.html

[mykpart]

1. This disturbs me on so many levels

I don't know what to say about it. Are these people screened to rule out mental illness, epilepsy, aspergers, etc? Is it really probable that so many true cases of demonic possession exist?

[rug]

2. Well, there is this from the aticle.

He warned that many worried and vulnerable people were at risk from charlatans. “Magicians demand money; we ? give our time, give benediction ? all for free. It couldn’t be any other way.”

The Monsignor said that all those who sought help were welcomed. But he added: “The real diabolical phenomena, at least in my experience, are very rare.” He said that “mental phenomena, mental and psychiatric disorders” were often to blame for unusual behaviour.

[mykpart]

3. I confess I had only scanned the article briefly before posting,

but after a thorough read, I am more disturbed than ever. It looks as if mental and physical disorders are going undiagnosed, there is no mention of referrals to psychiatrists or medical doctors, and performing an exorcism on someone who is mentally will reinforce their delusion, particularly when it is reinforced by a member of the clergy. And there could be deadly consequences. It often feels as though we are reverting to the middle ages.

[47of74]

4. What ever happened to rarely giving permission?

That concerns me too that the they seem to just be doing it at the drop of a hat. I thought an exorcism was undertaken only after everything else was ruled out.