Exorcism Thriving in U.S., Say Experts

By Oliver Libaw ("ABC NEWS," September 11, 2001)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/3989/?&section=general

Some methods involve tying people to chairs and trying to scream the demons out of them; others involve holy water and crucifixes. It's a practice many consider archaic — but exorcism is thriving in America.

The devil must be busier than ever in the new millennium.

Exorcism, the ancient rite of casting out Satan and his demons from the souls of the possessed, is thriving in America and was long before recent revelations that Mother Teresa underwent one and Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II performed them.

"It is a big phenomenon," J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist minister who directs the Institute for the Study of American Religion, says of exorcisms in the United States.

"There is a lot of exorcism going on."

What many might consider an archaic and obscure rite has been front-page news this year.

Last week, the Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian D'Souza, announced that he ordered an exorcism performed on Mother Teresa before she died in 1997.

D'Souza said he thought the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun possibly was being attacked by the devil, and asked a priest to exorcise it.

Mother Teresa is not the only prominent Catholic figure linked to exorcism.

Italian media reported that Pope John Paul II attempted to exorcise evil spirits from a 19-year-old Italian woman last year, although the Vatican said he only blessed her.

The Roman Catholic Church's chief exorcist said the woman displayed superhuman strength, and that the pope's efforts did not rid her of the hostile spirit.

Closer to home, exorcism is increasingly widespread, experts say.

Different Denominations, Hundreds of Exorcists

"Exorcism is more readily available today in the United States than perhaps ever before," writes Michael Cuneo, a sociologist at Fordham University, in his newly published book, American Exorcism .

Cuneo suggests that though the hit book and movie The Exorcist brought the subject national attention in the 1970s, exorcism has grown more popular in the past two decades.

The Catholic Church has at least 10 official exorcists around the United States, nine more than a decade ago, Cuneo says. He found them reporting the kind of bizarre supernatural behavior featured in movies: levitation, mysterious scars and wounds that might form pictures or spell out hateful words, and more.

The church remains extremely cautious in approving the procedure. The vast majority of exorcisms today are performed by a variety of protestant religions, Cuneo and other experts say.

"By conservative estimates, there are at least five or six hundred evangelical exorcism ministries in operation today, and quite possibly two or three times this many," he writes, in addition to numerous exorcisms performed by charismatic, Pentecostal and other brands of Christianity.

From Screams and Vomit to Quiet Prayer

Some involve tying people to chairs and then trying to scream the demons out of them; others retch and curse while writhing on the floor. Some are more like therapy sessions, where counselor-exorcists discuss demons of lust and guilt along with traditional mental health concerns.

Roman Catholic exorcisms are elaborate, carefully planned rituals that take hours to complete. They can involve holy water, crucifixes, and sacred ruins, as laid out by the De Exorcismus et supplicationibus quibusdam , an updated exorcism manual approved by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

"There's an actual formula," says Father Joseph Scerbo, a Roman Catholic priest who heads the Association of Christian Therapists. Scerbo says actual demonic possession is extremely rare, and many may use the term incorrectly to apply to demonic affliction, which is less serious.

Scerbo doubts Mother Teresa was the victim of full-fledged demonic possession and in need of an exorcism.

In contrast to Roman Catholic ritual, many protestant exorcisms are straightforward and may not appear much different from a normal prayer service.

"We would not see it as any elaborate ritual," says the Rev. J.R. Hall, editor of the Pentecostal Herald and member of the United Pentecostal Church. He says an exorcism might involve nothing more than prayer and laying hands on the afflicted.

Many conservative protestants see the devil as an active force in the everyday lives of people, and feel that exorcism is the natural way to deal with it. They might undergo several exorcisms — also called a "deliverance" — a month.

New Age religions also have their own brand of exorcism, believing that spirits of the dead and other supernatural creatures routinely interfere with and sometimes possess the living, and must be told to leave.

Possession vs. Mental Illness: How Can You Tell?

Like many protestant groups, United Pentecostal Church members believe the Holy Spirit gives them the power of "divination" — to sense when a demon is afflicting someone.

Many people might be violent, depressed, or irreligious without any supernatural involvement.

"Through the Holy Spirit, you can tell it's more," says Hall of genuine cases of possession.

Pastor Steven Waterhouse, an evangelical Christian who heads the Westcliff Bible Church in Amarillo, Texas, has written about the differences between mental illness and possession.

"I think there are such things as demon influence but I think it's rare," he says.

"People are too quick to diagnose demons. Human nature is plenty evil on its own."

Amateur Exorcisms Linked to Deaths

Exorcism has caused a number of real-world tragedies over the years, including several deaths.

Pentecostal ministers in San Francisco pummeled a woman to death in 1995, as they tried to drive out her demons.

In 1997, a Korean Christian woman was stomped to death in Glendale, Calif., and in the Bronx section of New York City, a 5-year-old girl died after being forced to swallow a mixture containing ammonia and vinegar and having her mouth taped shut.

In 1998, a 17-year-old girl in Sayville, N.Y., was suffocated by her mother with a plastic bag, in an effort to destroy a demon inside her.

Cuneo reports that a Wisconsin woman successfully sued her psychiatrist in 1997, after he diagnosed her as diabolically possessed, and having 126 personalities, including the bride of Satan and a duck. The experience left her suicidal, she claimed.

Overall, many involved in exorcism say the prayers and rituals involved are safe and may offer some comfort to true believers who are not actually afflicted by demons.

"If it's real to the person, you have to take it seriously," says Eddie Gibbs, an Anglican priest and professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

"I do believe that there is an intelligence behind evil," he insists.

But, he cautions: "We mustn't be gullible."

Pope and the devil: Francis’ fascination with Satan leads to suspicion he performed exorcism

(AP, May 21, 2013)

Vatican City — Pope Francis’ fascination with the devil took on remarkable new twists Tuesday, with a well-known exorcist insisting Francis helped “liberate” a Mexican man possessed by four different demons despite the Vatican’s insistence that no such papal exorcism took place.

The case concerns a 43-year-old husband and father who traveled to Rome from Mexico to attend Francis’ Mass on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. At the end of the Mass, Francis blessed several wheelchair-bound faithful as he always does, including a man possessed by the devil, according to the priest who brought him, the Rev. Juan Rivas.

Francis laid his hands on the man’s head and recited a prayer. The man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, shook, then slumped in his wheelchair.

The images, broadcast worldwide, prompted the television station of the Italian bishops’ conference to declare that according to several exorcists, there was “no doubt” that Francis either performed an exorcism or a simpler prayer to free the man from the devil.

The Vatican was more cautious. In a statement Tuesday, it said Francis “didn’t intend to perform any exorcism. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone who was suffering who was presented to him.”

The Rev. Gabriele Amorth, a leading exorcist for the diocese of Rome, said he performed a lengthy exorcism of his own on the man Tuesday morning and ascertained he was possessed by four separate demons. The case was related to the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, he said.

Amorth told RAI state radio that even a short prayer, without the full rite of exorcism being performed, is in itself a type of exorcism.

“That was a true exorcism,” he said of Francis’ prayer. “Exorcisms aren’t just done according to the rules of the ritual.”

Rivas took the Vatican line, saying it was no exorcism but that Francis merely said a prayer to free the man from the devil.

“Since no one heard what he said, including me who was right there, you can say he did a prayer for liberation but nothing more,” Rivas wrote on his Facebook page, which was confirmed by his religious order, the Legionaries of Christ.

Fueling the speculation that Francis did indeed perform an exorcism is his frequent reference to Satan in his homilies — as well as an apparent surge in demand for exorcisms among the faithful despite the irreverent treatment the rite often receives from Hollywood.

Who can forget the green vomit and the spinning head of the possessed girl in the 1973 cult classic “The Exorcist”?

In his very first homily as pope on March 14, Francis warned cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel the day after he was elected that “he who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil.”

He has since mentioned the devil on a handful of occasions, most recently in a May 4 homily when in his morning Mass in the Vatican hotel chapel he spoke of the need for dialogue — except with Satan.

“With the prince of this world you can’t have dialogue: Let this be clear!” he warned.

Experts said Francis’ frequent invocation of the devil is a reflection both of his Jesuit spirituality and his Latin American roots, as well as a reflection of a Catholic Church weakened by secularization.

“The devil’s influence and presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity inversely proportionate to the presence of Christian faith,” said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a moral theologian at Rome’s Pontifical Holy Cross University. “So, one would expect an upswing in his malicious activity in the wake of de-Christianization and secularization” in the world and a surge in things like drug use, pornography and superstition.

In recent years, Rome’s pontifical universities have hosted several courses for would-be exorcists on the rite, updated in 1998 and contained in a little red leather-bound booklet. The rite is relatively brief, consisting of blessings with holy water, prayers and an interrogation of the devil in which the exorcist demands to know the devil’s name, how many are present and when they will leave the victim.

Only a priest authorized by a bishop can perform an exorcism, and canon law specifies that the exorcist must be “endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life.”

While belief in the devil is consistent with church teaching, the Holy See does urge prudence, particularly to ensure that the victim isn’t merely psychologically ill.

The Rev. Giulio Maspero, a Rome-based systematic theologian who has witnessed or participated in more than a dozen exorcisms, says he’s fairly certain that Francis’ prayer on Sunday was either a full-fledged exorcism or a more simple prayer to “liberate” the young man from demonic possession.

He noted that the placement of the pope’s hands on the man’s head was the “typical position” for an exorcist to use.

“When you witness something like that — for me it was shocking — I could feel the power of prayer,” he said in a phone interview, speaking of his own previous experiences.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, sought to temper speculation that what occurred was a full-fledged exorcism. While he didn’t deny it outright — he said Francis hadn’t “intended” to perform one — he stressed that the intention of the person praying is quite important.

Late Tuesday, the director of TV2000, the television of the Italian bishops’ conference, went on the air to apologize for the earlier report.

“I don’t want to attribute to him a gesture that he didn’t intend to perform,” said the director, Dino Boffo.

That said, Francis’ actions and attitude toward the devil are not new: As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio frequently spoke about the devil in our midst.

In the book “Heaven and Earth,” Bergoglio devoted the second chapter to “The Devil” and said in no uncertain terms that he believes in the devil and that Satan’s fruits are “destruction, division, hatred and calumny.”

“Perhaps its greatest success in these times has been to make us think that it doesn’t exist, that everything can be traced to a purely human plan,” he wrote.

Italian newspapers noted that the late Pope John Paul II performed an exorcism in 1982 — near the same spot where Francis prayed over the young disabled man Sunday.

Exorcism leaves teenager seriously injured

By ("WNDU," August 2, 2007)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/25828/?&place=united-states&section=other-groups

Bloomington, USA - An Indiana student minister faces criminal charges after investigators said he committed an exorcism on an autistic teenager.

Monroe County police said a religious ritual turned criminal inside a Bloomington home. Moreover, they said they had never seen anything like it before.

According to police, Eddie Uyesugi, 22, a pastor in training at Cherry Hill Christian Church, promised healing for a 14 year old autistic boy.

Uyesugi convinced the boy's mother he could cure autism with an exorcism.

"Through prayer, casting demons out. She was initially in agreement in doing this thinking it was something authorized through the church," said Brad Swain of the Monroe County Police.

However, police said the exorcism turned violent. Under the guise of “God’s work”, Uyesugi battered and beat the boy.

"He stuck fingers into the boy's mouth while he was restrained on the bed, causing him to vomit. And this happened several times. The family said that Mr. Uyesugi told them this was to cast the demons out," Swain added.

Police also said Uyesugi punched the autistic teen in the face, a ritualistic beating that lasted for 11 hours.

Swain said, "He knew he didn't have demons in him. So why he was being abused and being told for demons to come out, it was really lost on him."

The teen’s mother, who police said tried to end the exorcism unsuccessfully, had put her trust in the church.

Pastors at Cherry Hill Church would not comment on the alleged exorcism, however, they told police while they do teach how to cast out demons, their methods do not include violence.

The church removed Uyesugi from the parsonage after the incident.

He told police he was simply trying to restrain the boy, but the attempted exorcism left the teen seriously injured.

The student minister now faces criminal charges. Moreover, police said the exorcism was not authorized by the church.

Uyesugi is expected to turn himself into police Wednesday.

Fury Over Live Telly Exorcism

By Nicola Methven ("Daily Record," January 4, 2005)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/14618/?&place=united-states&section=general

Church leaders angrily condemned Channel 4 last night over plans to broadcast a live exorcism.

TV morality campaigners also slammed the idea, branding it harmful and dangerous.

The programme, called Exorcism, will be shown next month.

An insider said: 'The aim is to test the science involved.

'It would involve officials from the church and leading scientists and we would monitor precisely what happens during the process.'

Taste Sky TV are planning a separate show called When Exorcisms Go Wrong, featuring amateur videos of rites from around the world.

Broadcasting watchdogs Ofcom say demonstrations of exorcisms and other 'occult practices' should not be shown on factual TV 'except in the context of a legitimate investigation'.

But a source said: 'The producers will insist they should be allowed to broadcast the exorcism on the grounds that it's a form of scientific experimentation and a legitimate part of church practice.

'Whether the broadcasting authorities see it like that is another matter.'

A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland branded the show 'a ratings-grabbing attempt to push the boundaries of taste'.

He said: 'Each exorcism deals with very complex psychological, spiritual and emotional issues which cannot be easily monitored or measured.

'To try to analyse some kind of scientific results would be a non-starter.'

Groups like Mediawatch, founded by the late Mary Whitehouse, claim shows about the paranormal can harm vulnerable viewers.

They blame the BBC's Ghostwatch, a spoof Halloween show 13 years ago, for driving a young viewer to suicide.

John Beyer, Mediawatch director, said of the Channel 4 exorcism: 'This sounds very dangerous and ºis likely to cause considerable unease. Getting ratings is all the broad- casters are bothered about.This is not only ill-advised, it could be harmful.

'If Ghostwatch is anything to go by, vulnerable people do take notice. Surely someone killing themselves as a consequence of a TV programme should be enough to set a precedent.'

A spokesman for Channel 4 confirmed the exorcism programme was planned for later in the year.

And a Sky One spokesman claimed their show would be 'a thought-provoking exploration of a controversial subject'.

Exorcisms in high demand in Mexico

By ("KENS 5 Eyewitness News," February 6, 2006)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/20349/?&place=mexico

San Antonio, USA - When most people think of an exorcism, the 1970s movie "The Exorcist," or the more-recent movie "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" may come to mind.

Both movies were based on true stories and depict what the Catholic Church recognizes as signs of true diabolical possession: super-human strength, speaking in an unknown language, a strong aversion to holy objects.

However, exorcisms are very real in the Catholic churches just south of the border. With more people going through the process than ever, priests in Mexico are doing their best to keep up with the demand to drive demons from people's souls.

KENS 5 traveled to the country for a rare look into the world of satanic possession — and exorcism.

A young girl screams and growls, then recoils when hit with holy water. "I am the dragon," a man says. "And I want to enter you." A woman begins to foam at the mouth at the sight of a crucifix. Each of these people and their families believe they are possessed by the devil.

Video from a church in Veracruz shows these cases and more. The priest gave permission for camera crews to come in and witness the exorcisms.

The demand for the ritual is increasing around the world, especially in Mexico.

In Mexico City, there are eight priests authorized by the Vatican to perform exorcisms. In contrast, the Archdiocese of San Antonio doesn't have one authorized priest.

Father Rafael Baltazar is one of the official exorcists. Priests from all over Mexico City send their afflicted parishioners to him, and every week he sees people that he believes are under demonic influence.

"Their facial expressions, their screams," he said in Spanish. He said that's how he knows they are possessed, and he's felt and overwhelming evil presence when he commands the devil to leave.

"It makes the hair on my arms stand up," Baltazar said. "It scares me."

So why are so many more people claiming to be possessed?

People have lost their faith in God, and that allows the devil to attack them, said Father Pedro Mendoza, the chief exorcist at the Archdiocese of Mexico. He gets at least 15 calls a day from people requesting an exorcism.

Mendoza also blames witchcraft, faith healing, psychics and magic for opening the door to evil.

"Everything that is magic is from the devil," Mendoza said in Spanish.

Since so many people are demanding exorcisms, Mendoza organized Mexico's first national meeting of exorcists. About 500 people attended to learn how to drive away evil.

The priests in Veracruz mainly deal with minor exorcisms — when the devil is said to be oppressing the soul, but not possessing it. In these cases, the priests use holy water, a crucifix and a prayer of liberation to free the soul.

The Vatican's exorcism guidelines require all those claiming possession to first be examined by a mental health professional.

"I took her to the doctor, then I came here (the church)," said one girl's mother in Spanish. "It doesn't happen anymore."

After months of daily torment, the young girl says the evil presence is gone after this exorcism.

Even if many believe evil forces around them are increasing, they are reassured by their belief that Satan is no match for the power of Christ.

"If I have a strong faith in Jesus Christ, then the devil can do nothing to me," Mendoza said.

While there is no official exorcist in San Antonio, there are 12 in the United States doing battle with the devil, because the Catholic Church believes Satan is very active in the world.

Woman drowns during exorcism ceremony

By Barbara McMahon ("Guardian," November 12, 2007)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/26851/?&place=asia-pacific&section=native-religions

Sydney, Australia - A 22-year-old woman died during an exorcism ritual in New Zealand, drowning at a relative's home as up to 40 family members looked on, police said today.

Janet Moses, a mother of two, was held under water in an attempt to drive away a makutu, or Maori curse. Containers holding an "extensive amount" of water were brought into the lounge of the house, in Wellington, for the ceremony.

The woman had been dead for nine hours before her family contacted police. She had been placed on a bed and was found with grazes to her upper arms, forearms and torso.

Detectives initially treated the death as unexplained until a post-mortem ruled out natural causes and revealed the woman had drowned.

Detective Sergeant Ross Levy, leading the inquiry, confirmed that a "cultural ceremony" had taken place, and said police were treating the death as a homicide. The exorcism took place on October 12.

Moses, who had daughters aged one and three, stayed at her relative's house in the week leading up the ceremony. A woman living next door said she heard loud noises on the night of the exorcism, "like banging on a wall", adding that a large number of people had entered and left the building.

Detectives have now interviewed 100 members of the woman's family. "The family has always been the central focus of the inquiry ... this has not changed and won't change," Det Sgt Levy said. "Our task is to identify those responsible for Janet's death."

The exorcism ritual was held because the woman's relatives believed a curse had been put on her after another member of her family stole a taonga, meaning treasured artefact, belonging to someone else.

Dr Hone Kaa, an archdeacon of the Anglican Maori Church, told the New Zealand Herald that he was last involved in a makutu-lifting ceremony 12 years ago, but said they were still commonplace.

Dr Kaa said water was used to cleanse the victim during the ceremony, and expressed surprise when he heard the amount of water alleged to have been used.

He added that such ceremonies were "very emotional, very intense", but said he had never heard of anyone being badly injured.

"You may have to hold the person down because the spirit may fight within the person to stay, so you need others around you to restrain them," he said.

The victim was buried in a traditional Maori funeral ceremony.

Exorcism as alternative medicine for Russian Orthodox faithful

By (AFP, August 23, 2002)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/583/?&place=russia&section=christianity

SERGIEV POSAD, Russia (AFP) - The priest's voice caressed the congregation, drawing the sermon to a close. Under the monastery's high frescoed vault, where the haunting murmur of the Gregorian chants still echoed, the believers returned to their prayers. Peace. Reverence. Contemplation.

And then, in a matter of seconds, the picture began to dissolve into scenes worthy of a Hollywood producer's imagination.

High-pitched screams, animal howls and grunts cut into the austere beauty of the singing, reducing many of those present to sobs of terror while others collapsed in a dead faint, either from tension or from the heaviness of the air.

The casting out of devils is not a pretty sight, but throughout the pandemonium, German Chesnokov, the monastery's archimandrite and accredited exorcist, never batted an eyelid, not even when a young girl, screaming deafeningly, recoiled from his touch and tore away the cross hanging from her breast.

The medieval practice of exorcism may have been frowned on in Soviet times, but it now draws hundreds of faithful daily, from all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, to the Troitse-Sergiev monastery at Sergiev Posad, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Moscow.

In the stiflingly warm air, women and children huddled close to the altar, glancing nervously over their shoulders as the sufferers were escorted or carried in.

Of the more than 400 believers crowded under the golden domes, many were convinced that devils were to blame for afflictions, principally mental, that regular doctors had dismissed as incurable.

Exorcism "is really good for your health, there's been some significant improvement, but it depends on you how long that improvement lasts," said Marina, 32, with a glance at her adolescent son standing silently nearby.

Local parishioners advise that to obtain tangible results, visitors must attend the three-hour service for three days in succession.

Speaking in a soft drawl, German warned his listeners of "the demons who possess us when we are proud and idle, and do not want to obey God's law."

The grey-bearded priest, who has practised his unusual methods, does not believe the rites of exorcism to be in any way at odds with modern medicine.

"Doctors treat the sicknesses of the body, and the Church deals with sicknesses of the soul, such as schizophrenia, epileptic fits, depression, hallucinations, or asthma," he told AFP.

"Sometimes we send people back to official doctors, and sometimes they send people to us," he said.

True, techniques akin to exorcism have found some backing at Russia's Academy of Sciences. But many psychiatrists were inclined to scoff at what they saw as "a return to medieval times."

"This is a form of psychotherapy, and in cases of functional disorders like various neuroses or hysteria it works as well as any other. Naturally it works only on believers, acting in unison with inner conviction," Yuri Savenko of the Association of Independent Psychiatrists said.

"However with severe psychosis, such as schizophrenia or manic depression, it will not help at all and may even do harm, as believers tend to delay in getting serious medical treatment until it is too late," he warned.

Meanwhile, among the impressed and hushed crowd that made its way out of the monastery, faces dripping with holy water and sanctified oil, even the skeptics found it hard to dismiss the scenes they had witnessed.

"Before I wondered if all the scary stories were not the fruit of popular imagination, and now I understood they were not, though I'm still not convinced it wasn't a form of individual hysteria," said Olga, a 26-year-old manager who attended the service out of curiosity.

"However, if there is a logical explanation why someone would start screaming when shown a cross, I don't know any. I did have the feeling that something may be out there," she admitted.

Exorcist Hotline Created By Catholic Church In Milan, More Priests Available To Drive 'Demons' Out

By Lee Spiegel ("Huffington Post," December 3, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38628/

Priests in Europe may soon be working overtime in their ageless struggle against the dark forces of evil.

The Catholic diocese of Milan has created a special exorcism hotline and has doubled the number of exorcism-practicing priests.

The BBC reports the number of trained priests has jumped from six to 12 to try and keep up with an apparent increase in calls over the past 15 years from citizens claiming to need the services of an exorcist.

"From the number of calls we receive, the need has doubled," Monsignor Angelo Mascheroni -- the diocese's chief exorcist since 1995 -- told the news website Incrocinews. "We get young and old, men and women, people with different levels of education, from school-leavers to graduates."

A special switchboard has been set up where people can call Monday through Friday between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. for all their exorcism needs. Mascheroni said that one priest was reportedly seeing as many as 120 people a day.

"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," Mascheroni said, according to The Independent.

While the diocese receives up to four calls each day, what exactly are people calling about? Are demons running rampant in and around Milan, necessitating interventions by priests trained in the task of banishing evil from unwilling victims?

Mascheroni suggests that the rise in exorcist calls could have something to do with the number of parents having discipline problems with their children.

"Usually the parents call, concerned about a child who won't go to school or who's taking drugs or rebelling," he said. "In reality, it's not a demon, but when they're 18 years old, young people don't want to be told what to do."

Maybe that's where the phrase "you little devils" originated.

Even with the increased number of exorcism requests and priests available to perform them, Mascheroni cautions against believing that there's any sort of "real diabolical phenomena" behind it all, preferring to blame "mental and psychiatric disorders" for the reported unusual behaviors.

Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years, claims involvement with about 70,000 demonic possession cases. That's a lot of alleged bad energy and fodder for bad movies.

Last year, Amorth insisted that sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic church proved that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican," according to the Independent.

Amorth also previously stated that "Practicing yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter. In Harry Potter, the Devil acts in a crafty and covert manner, under the guise of extraordinary powers, magic spells and curses."

Surge in Satanism sparks rise in demand for exorcists, says Catholic Church

By Nick Squires ("Telegraph," March 30, 2011)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/35321/?&section=internet-related

Vatican City - The web has made it easier than ever before to access information on Devil-worshipping and the occult, experts said.

Exorcism is the subject of a six-day conference being held this week at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome, which is under the Vatican's authority.

"The internet makes it much easier than in the past to find information about Satanism," said Carlo Climati, a member of the university who specialises in the dangers posed to young people by Satanism.

"In just a few minutes you can contact Satanist groups and research occultism. The conference is not about how to become an exorcist. It's to share information about exorcism, Satanism and sects. It's to give help to families and priests. There is a particular risk for young people who are in difficulties or who are emotionally fragile," said Mr Climati.

The object of seminars was to scrutinise the phenomenon of Satanism with "seriousness and scientific rigour", avoiding a "superficial or sensational approach", he said.

The conference in Rome has brought together more than 60 Catholic clergy as well as doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers and youth workers to discuss how to combat the dangers of Devil-worship.

Organisers say the rise of Satanism has been dangerously underestimated in recent years.

"There's been a revival," said Gabriele Nanni, a former exorcist and another speaker at the course.

In theory, any priest can perform an exorcism – a rite involving prayers to drive the Devil out of the person said to be possessed.

But Vatican officials said three years ago that parish priests should call in professional exorcists if they suspect one of their parishioners needs purging of evil.

An exorcist should be called when "the moral certainty has been reached that the person is possessed", said Father Nanni, a member of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

That could be indicated by radical and disturbing changes in the person's behaviour and voice, or an ability to garble in foreign languages or nonsensical gibberish.

While the number of genuine cases of possession by the Devil remained relatively small, "we must be on guard because occult and Satanist practices are spreading a great deal, in part with the help of the internet and new technologies that make it easier to access these rituals," he said.

The Vatican's chief exorcist claimed last year that the Devil lurked in the Vatican, the very heart of the Catholic Church.

Father Gabriele Amorth said people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron, scream, dribble and slobber, utter blasphemies and have to be physically restrained.

He claimed that the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See. He said Pope Benedict XVI believed "wholeheartedly" in the practice of exorcism.

Poland to open exorcism centre

By (AAP, December 19, 2007)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/27260/?&place=eastern-europe&section=catholic

Szczeczin, Poland - Poland is planning to open its first ever exorcism centre near the German border, Dziennik newspaper reports.

A Catholic priest plans to open the centre for people believed to be possessed by the Devil in Poczernin, 30km to the east of the Baltic city of Szczeczin.

The Catholic Church authorised the project in recent weeks, the report said.

The priest, Andrzej Trojanowski, has been working as an academic chaplain in Szczeczin for the past five years.

He is believed to have dealt with some 20 people a week in his rectory.

Poles from Germany have also turned to him as Germany has had no exorcists for 30 years, the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper reported.

The newspaper reports said that a psychiatrist works with the priest.

The exorcism centre is expected to have a chapel and guest rooms and it is expected to be built near the edge of the forest. It plans to offer spiritual help to the needy, the reports said.

Gazeta Wybrocza said that there were currently 50 exorcists working in Poland.

Five Charged over Nun's 'Exorcism Death'

By ("PA News," June 23, 2005)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/17518/?&place=eastern-europe

Bucharest, Romania - A Romanian monk and four nuns have been charged with murder after a nun died during an exorcism ritual in which she was apparently crucified in a case which has sparked outrage and angry scenes in Romania in the last week.

Daniel Petre Corogeanu and four nuns were charged with depriving a person of liberty and aggravated murder after testifying for 11 hours to prosecutors. They were later detained by police, said prosecutor Ovidiu Berinde.

Maricica Irina Cornici, a 23-year-old nun died last week in the Holy Trinity convent just outside the village of Tanacu in a remote region in northeast Romania after she was allegedly bound to a cross, left in a cold room, had a towel stuffed into her mouth and deprived of food for three days.

There were angry scenes outside the courthouse in the northeast city of Vaslui yesterday, in one of Romania’s remotest and poorest regions near the border with Moldova.

Corogeanu, a red-bearded 29-year-old monk, was jostled by shrieking locals calling for justice saying he had brought the Orthodox Church into disrepute. Others crammed against iron railings outside the prosecutor’s office, claiming the monk and nuns were innocent.

Amid heated local passions, Corgeanu’s attorney Luana Pintilie Thursday called for the case to be moved to the city of Iasi. The court in Vasului refused.

“Magistrates should not have pressure from the street, locals and the media who are camped outside the prosecutor’s door,” she said, adding if there was a trial in Iasi “peasants will not have the money to come to Iasi,” she said.

On Sunday, the five were charged in connection with causing the nun’s death but were not detained, pending the results of a second autopsy.

Corogeanu has been suspended by the church and the convent has been closed by the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Corogeanu has appeared to be unrepentant. When he performed a funeral service for the dead nun on Sunday, he said he was trying to take devils out of the woman.

When asked whether the nun was mentally ill and in need of medical help instead of exorcism, he responded: “You can’t take the devil out of people with pills. You cure (possession by) the devils with fasting and prayer.”

He added the nun had to be restrained because she was violent, but denied that she was starved.

If found guilty, the monk and the nuns could face 25 years in prison.

Doctors, Priests Form Exorcism Commission

By (Reuters, February 13, 2004)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/15291/?&place=europe&section=occult

Faced with growing demand for exorcisms, Catholic Church leaders in the Italian city of Genoa have created a taskforce of doctors and priests to determine when the devil is at work and when psychiatric help is needed.

The team of three priests, one psychiatrist, one psychologist and one neurologist -- dubbed the "anti-Satan pool" by Italian media -- will work on a case-by-case basis, a local church official said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

"They'll meet on a regular basis to determine when there has been a case of demonic possession and call for an exorcist, or problems better cared for by a psychologist," said the official, who asked not to be named.

For Catholics, exorcism is the casting out of what is believed to be an evil spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands.

One of the church's leading exorcists praised the initiative, saying medical experts are needed to rule out mental problems before spiritual work can begin.

"I never accept anyone who arrives without a medical certificate," Father Gabriele Amorth told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

The Genoa taskforce was created by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The official Catholic exorcism starts with prayers, the blessing and sprinkling of holy water, the laying of hands on the possessed, and the making of the sign of the cross.

It ends with the priest commanding the devil to leave the possessed person.

While the church does not often talk openly about exorcisms, Bertone said the need for them is there.

"It has become difficult to talk about Satan, but the signs of the devil are palpable," he told Corriere della Sera in comments published Thursday.

Parents sentenced for exorcism gone wrong

By Gloria Galloway ("The Toronto Globe and Mail," May 23, 2003)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/3906/

Walter Zepeda was possessed by the devil.

His parents, devoutly religious members of a Pentecostal church that believes in such manifestations, knew that much to be true.

They had seen their shy 19-year-old son engage in behaviours that could only signal the presence of Satan.

So Diego Zepeda-Cordera called his friend Alex Osegueda, a fellow member of the Missionary Church of Christ and a man of equal devotion, to help him rid his son of the evil. They had no idea the seven days of forced confinement it took to drive away the devil would also, literally, drain the life out of Walter.

He lost nine litres of fluid as he lay strapped with men's ties to metal chairs in the basement apartment he shared with his family in this western Ontario city. Ultimately he died of dehydration.

Yesterday, the squarely cut shoulders of Mr. Zepeda-Cordero heaved silently as a judge sentenced him and Mr. Osegueda to four years in penitentiary for the ritual that caused the death of the teen.

They had pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week, ending a preliminary hearing that heard from 24 witnesses, among them some who had prayed over Walter as he lay bound in his bedroom.

The young man's mother, Ana Mejia-Lopez, sobbed into a handkerchief as she was given a single day for failing to provide the necessaries of life to her son. She was freed yesterday afternoon the 500th day the trio had spent in incarceration.

Ontario Court Judge Deborah Livingstone said she had been struck through the long hours of the preliminary hearing by their emotion, obvious distress, and significant remorse.

"The court cannot but have compassion for the loss of a son, the loss of a friend, which all three will have to live with for the rest of their lives."

But in passing the sentence, a compromise between the three years requested by defence lawyers and the five suggested by the Crown, Judge Livingstone said the sanctity of life must be upheld.

"A young man is gone," she said gravely.

Both Mr. Zepeda-Cordero and Mr. Osegueda have agreed in the months since Walter died that they were performing an exorcism. But it was not a botched exorcism, they said.

Mr. Zepeda-Cordero's lawyer, Andy Rady, told the court his client takes some solace in his belief that, in the hours before Walter's life ebbed away, the devil also left his body.

"When Walter died, he [Mr. Zepeda-Cordero] believed that he returned to Jesus," Mr. Rady said. "Although he still believes in the rightness of the ends he was trying to achieve, he understands the wrongness of the way he went about it."

Mr. Zepeda-Cordero, his wife and Mr. Osegueda were all born in El Salvador and came to Canada in the 1980s when their country was a dangerous and desperate place. They moved first to Montreal, where Mr. Zepeda-Cordero found God, then on to London.

Carol Lee, who cut hair with Mr. Zepeda-Cordero at Emmerich's barber shop, said he was the kind of man "who would give you the shirt off his back" but was preoccupied by his devotion.

When someone sat in his chair for a haircut, they could expect a sermon. "If they'd go for it, he'd talk about it," she said. "But sometimes customers got peeved off."

Walter, who would often have his dad cut his hair, had finished school and worked part-time as a dishwasher in a seafood restaurant. He was quiet and posed no trouble for his parents, unlike his siblings.

His sister, Karen, who was 17 when Walter died, has significant mental-health problems, Crown attorney David Arntfield said yesterday.

Walter's brother, Diego, was charged with drug trafficking after an early-morning police raid on the family apartment that began with a frightening crash through the front door. That deeply affected Walter, his father has said, and his strange behaviour began a short time later in the fall of 2001.

Some of it was normal kid stuff. Walter went to discos and smoked cigarettes and refused to help with housework. He liked rap music and a magazine describing satanic activities was found under his bed.

But there was a bizarre incident when the normally quiet teen went to the front of a religious meeting in Toronto and took the microphone to profess his devotion to Christ then spoke gibberish.

His father, Mr. Osegueda and others then drove with him to Montreal and he threatened to jump out of the car. Once in Montreal, he tried to escape by running away in the snow barefoot.

For Mr. Zepeda-Cordero and Mr. Osegueda, the incidents added up to demonic possession and "they both agreed that Walter had to be prayed for," Mr. Arntfield said. That meant strapping him down.

The two men wrestled him into submission on Jan. 2, 2002, and tied him to the chairs in the apartment. His mother, who didn't originally agree with the action, acquiesced because she too believed Satan had control of her son.

Walter struggled against his restraints to the point that his wrists and ankles were a mass of bruises, but that was interpreted "as an example of the devil or the demon doing what he would with Walter," Mr. Arntfield said.

The morning after he was tied up, Rev. Guillermo Fabian, the pastor of the church, was summoned to the home. As Walter swore and squirmed, Mr. Fabian prayed with the family to help exorcise the demon. He came back the next day and Walter was lying in his own urine a problem solved by dressing him in adult diapers.

Over the weekend, at least 10 other members of the church visited the home and joined in the prayer sessions.

Diane Millar, who lives next door, heard the chanting, even at 2 a.m. "It just didn't sound right, but with them being non-English, you couldn't understand what they were saying," she said. It could have been a party so she didn't lodge a complaint, she said.

All this time, Walter's parents say they were offering him liquid, even his favourite Chinese soup, but he refused it all. When he screamed too loud, his mouth was duct-taped. And by Sunday, those who saw him were worried about his health. One said he "looked sick and dying."

On Monday, Mr. Fabian urged Mr. Zepeda-Cordero to let his son go. That night, Walter was calm and his father came to the conclusion the devil had finally left the boy's body.

"Walter's last words were 'forgive me,' then he fell asleep," Mr. Arntfield said.

The straps were removed and he was placed on a bed, but by then it was too late. A few hours later he stopped breathing. First his father called Mr. Fabian. Then, at the pastor's urging, he called the police.

The three accused and Mr. Fabian originally tried to deceive police into believing Walter had been restrained for only three days but the lie was eventually revealed.

Despite the deception, it is obvious the trio "genuinely believed that Walter was possessed," Judge Livingstone said. "They only wanted to help him, wanted to save his soul, but the facts of the matter show that despite their prayer and the zealousness of their religious convictions, what they did and what they did not do caused Walter's death."

Satanist Church Rents Out Oklahoma City Civic Center for Exorcism

By Sarah Netter ("ABC News," September 1, 2010)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/34084/?&place=united-states&section=occult

Oklahoma City, USA - The leader of an Satanic church firmly planted in the Bible Belt has raised eyebrows by renting a theater in the Oklahoma City Civic Center for a ritual exorcism of God.

The Church of the IV Majesties is inviting members and the public to view the ritual, in hopes of erasing a lot of the unfounded fears many have about Satanism.

"We don't kill animals, we don't kill children," James Hale, the church's Lord High Master, told ABCNews.com.

"We just decided that being right here in the middle of the Bible Belt, it wasn't a good idea to keep the secrecy you see in the traditional Satanist churches," he said. "Because secrecy breeds fear. And we're not looking to scare anyone."

Citing concerns for privacy and safety, Hale declined to say how many members the church has besides the seven members who are named on the church's state listing as a tax exempt religious organization, a designation they were awarded this spring.

Church elder charged with child abuse in exorcism death of autistic boy

By (AFP, August 27, 2003)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/3523/?&place=united-states&section=other-groups

Prosecutors charged a church elder with physical abuse of a child, following the death of an eight-year-old autistic boy during an exorcism ceremony.

Ray Hemphill, who is in police custody, faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a 25,000 dollar fine if convicted on the felony count, according to the Milwaukee county district attorney's office.

The 45-year-old janitor and pastor allegedly suffocated the developmentally disabled boy during a prayer ceremony to rid him of his "demons" at a church on the northwest side of Milwaukee Friday.

According to investigators, Pat Cooper took her son to the airless church on a rundown strip mall late Friday as she had several times before over the previous three weeks.

The boy lay on the floor and Cooper and several other women present held down his arms and legs while Hemphill crouched on the floor next to Cottrell telling the "demons" to leave him.

At one point, the 157-pound (71-kilo) janitor kneeled on Terrance Cottrell's chest, Cooper told police. As the session went on the janitor laid on top of the boy to subdue him.

Cottrell struggled the entire time, and Hemphill physically laid on top of him for about an hour, according to Hemphill's account.

But it wasn't until a sweaty, exhausted Hemphill got up that the group of four adults realised the boy wasn't breathing.

At that point, Cottrell was blue in the face and had urinated on himself, Cooper told police.

The Medical Examiner's concluded that the pressure placed on the young boy's chest prevented him from breathing and that he was denied oxygen. An autopsy gave his cause of death as "mechanical asphyxia due to external chest compression."

Cottrell was diagnosed as autistic at the age of two, according to his mother, who described her son as "disruptive," and said he was being cared for by a local children's development center.

Ray Hemphill, who was ordained as a minister by his brother in the Apostolic Faith Church but had not received any institutional religious training, had apparently dedicated himself to working on Cottrell, according to Tamara Tolefree, one of the women who helped restrain the young black boy.

Hemphill had decided to devote his entire vacation from his job as a janitor to "getting that spirit out of Junior," she said. "(Friday) was to be our last and final time trying that kind of prayer," Tolefree said.

African Catholic Church tested by scandals and rivals

By Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere (AFP, November 17, 2011)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36535/?&section=occult

Rome, Italy - When he arrives in Africa on Friday, Pope Benedict XVI will be welcomed by a fast-growing Church struggling with sex and corruption scandals and rivalry from evangelical Christians and Voodooism.

The pope will revisit the themes raised during the synod of African bishops in 2009, when he had called for peace, reconciliation and justice.

The continent has the world's fastest growing number of Catholics -- rising by eight million between 2007 and 2008 alone -- and often sends its dynamic priests to work in increasingly deserted churches across the secularised West.

But the African Church is also riddled with scandals, from child abuse to extramarital relations, collusion with those in power, and ill-gotten fortunes.

African priests have also been known on occasion to be involved with practices that do not sit happily with the Catholic Church -- from exorcism or animal sacrifices to Freemasonry.

In Benin alone, two bishops -- including the Archbishop of Cotonou Marcel Honorat Agboton -- have been dismissed for sex and corruption scandals.

Ahead of his three-day visit, Benedict has denounced ritual killings in witchcraft practices -- a widespread problem in Africa where albinos are often singled out.

The pontiff has also asked those involved in conflicts, such as the strife dividing the Ivory Coast since 2002, not to be afraid to shed light on crimes committed.

He recently called for a cessation to violence between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, where radical Salafists rival mainstream Islam.

The Church "does not want to be a substitute for the state, but can -- through its numerous institutions in the education and health sectors -- bring comfort and care," he said.

Rural depopulation and the promotion of an identity beyond ethnic borders in Africa is seen as a chance for the Catholic Church to reinforce its role as "protector of the weak."

It also hopes to become a "new family" for many, stepping into the void left by weakening community structures, said Mario Giro from the Sant'Egidio community -- a Catholic group active in peace-building initiatives in Africa.

According to a Vatican source, the Church feels it has a duty to help Catholics develop a "true conscience" in a region where bad governance abounds.

Competition among religions is fierce in this poverty-struck region.

Many disappointed Catholics have converted to Pentecostalism, which "offers the full package, while the Church only offers a few Hail Marys," said a Beninese religious commentator.

"We need a second evangelism, which would help those baptised not to allow themselves to be attracted by those selling illusions," said Father Ballang, head of the French-speaking African department at the Vatican Radio.

In the meantime the Church is dedicating a lot of its time to improving education and is the main institution engaged in caring for those with AIDS, even though it is officially opposed to the use of condoms.

Benedict's first visit to Africa in 2009 was overshadowed by a controversial comment when he said the distribution of condoms "aggravates" the AIDS crisis and spoke of sexual abstinence as the only solution.

Witnessing 'child witch' exorcism in the DR Congo

By Angus Crawford ("BBC News," March 1, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36966/?&section=occult

London, England - An "obsession" with witchcraft and sorcery led a couple to brutally murder a 15-year-old boy at a flat in east London.

Eric Bikubi, 28, and his partner Magalie Bamu, aged 29, have been convicted at the Old Bailey of killing Kristy Bamu after accusing him of being a sorcerer who practised witchcraft.

The couple, who live in Newham, acted after accusing Kristy of controlling and adversely influencing a young boy, the jury was told.

They originally came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where witchcraft is called Kindoki, and exorcisms are carried out in some churches.

In 2010, Unicef reported 20,000 children accused of witchcraft were living on the streets of DR Congo's capital Kinshasa.

In the DR Congo, accusing a child of being possessed is a criminal offence, a law that has been in place for several years.

Kindoki diagnosed

But in 2008 I travelled to Kinshasa to see if it was making any difference and, at that time, the answer was not at all.

Which is why I found myself in one of the city's slums late at night knocking on the door of tin-roofed shack that doubled as a church.

Pastor Tsimba let me in and showed me three children who he had diagnosed as having Kindoki.

The youngest was probably six, the oldest no more than 12. They had been in the church for days, deprived of food and forced to work. Their parents were paying for the privilege.

The only light came from flickering candles and storm lamps. The pastor began to shout and pray.

One by one he brought the children up to the front of the church. He ordered them to lie down and, still shouting and chanting, began slapping their stomachs, one, two, three times. Each harder than the last.

Then he took a candle and poured burning hot wax on them, leaving them grimacing and squirming but making almost no sound. Their eyes were wide and staring.

Finally, as a bizarre conclusion to the ritual, Pastor Tsimba produced a length of pipe and held it hard against their belly buttons.

'Infected meat'

One after another, he made a play of sucking hard on the pipe and in triumph then spat a lump of meat he claimed to have sucked out of them into a bowl.

The meat he claimed had been been fed to them by a witch, infecting them with Kindoki. The children, bewildered and quiet, were now in his words "delivered".

I alerted a social worker to the plight of the children. An extraordinary and dedicated man, he said he would do all he could to help them.

But his unit had not paid him for months, there was no money for petrol or even a bus fare. So he did his work on foot.

He walked miles each day, visiting as many churches as he could, in this sprawling city of nine million people.

Satanism on the Rise, say Italian Bishops

By ("Zenit," May 18, 2001)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/6134/?&section=occult

ROME, (Zenit.org).- Italian bishops have expressed their concern over what they see as a resurgence of Satanism, fortunetelling, witchcraft and black magic.

The Italian bishops´ conference, meeting in plenary assembly in the Vatican, explained in an official statement that this new phenomenon is promoted because of its "resonance" in the media, and the "unhealthy interest" it awakens.

Their comments came as they reviewed the Italian translation of the new "Ritual of Exorcism," published in Latin by the Vatican in 1998. The document updates the text that was approved in 1614 and then enlarged in 1954.

According to the Italian bishops, phenomena such as Satanism and black magic are often combined with a superstitious use of religion, which results in offending the individual´s dignity and liberty.

"We are witnessing a rebirth of divinations, fortunetelling, witchcraft and black magic, often combined with a superstitious use of religion," the bishops´ statement said. "In certain environments, superstition and magic can coexist with scientific and technological progress, inasmuch as science and technology cannot give answers to the ultimate problems of life."

The bishops, who are preparing the pastoral orientation of the Italian Church over the next 10 years, also said they are especially worried about the "resurgence of an unhealthy interest in the sphere of the demonic."

The bishops´ conference believes that the spread of these ideas leads people to lose confidence in God, to have no faith in providence, and to instrumentalize God according to man´s immediate interests.

"All this offends the dignity and liberty of the person, as man becomes subject to dark, impersonal forces, psychological dependencies and moral degradation," the bishops stressed.

Mexico religious cult refuses to allow teachers in

By Mark Stevenson ("Associated Press," August 22, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37917/

Mexico City, Mexico - Adherents of a religious sect in western Mexico are physically blocking school teachers from entering their walled community, setting up one of the most high-profile confrontations between religious and civil authorities in Mexico since the 1930s.

Local officials in the western state of Michoacan said Wednesday it may be time to call in a large-scale police operation to enforce the right to schooling in a community that has largely ruled itself according to what it considers Biblical guidelines for almost 40 years. The New Jerusalem community prohibits formal schooling, television, radio, modern music, dress and fashion.

"I think the next step is to go in and enforce the rule of law," said Efrain Barrera, spokesman for the township of Turicato, in western Michoacan state, where the sect's walled-off compound is located.

Under Mexican law, grade school education is compulsory, and Mexico's National Human Rights Commission and the Roman Catholic Church said Tuesday that the refusal to allow classes in the town of New Jerusalem is a violation of children's human rights.

They called on the government to break the town's blockade, which has been limited to fistfights but could escalate. Members of the sect recently attacked and destroyed the school building.

"It is surprising that they want to impose beliefs, not a religion, on grade-school children in their formative stage, by taking away the right every child has to attend classes in government-provided education," the Mexican Bishops Council said in a statement.

"The local authorities should intervene and resolve the conflict, which, if it isn't taken care of, could escalate," the council said. "This is an issue that cannot wait, this is the moment to act and defend the rule of law."

The church does not recognize the sect, which was founded in 1973 by a renegade Catholic priest who objected to the abandonment of Latin masses and other modernization moves.

The group has demanded the right to appoint its own teachers, set its own curriculum and mandate robes and headscarves for female pupils, claiming that otherwise the schools would be introducing bad habits into the community. Girls at government schools in Mexico generally wear uniforms, including knee-length plaid skirts.

The group shuns telephones and its leaders were not available for comment on Wednesday.

In July, gangs of sect followers used sledgehammers to destroy three government school buildings in the community, then doused them with gasoline and set fire to the school furniture and computer equipment.

On Monday, when the new school year was scheduled to start, gangs of church supporters, including women dressed in the bright-colored robes and headscarves the sect requires women to wear, engaged in fistfights with residents who wanted their children to go to school at improvised classrooms set up after the school buildings were destroyed. About a dozen government-paid teachers showed up, but were also driven off.

"They are damaging about 250 children," said Barrera. "It is not fair that older people want to reproduce and impose their own ignorance on a new generation."

There have been periodic reports of deaths, threats and beatings inside the compound, where about 5,000 adherents live in brick houses inside medieval-castle-style walls. But no outside authorities have ever been allowed in.

"What we are demanding is to be able to enter and investigate what has been happening, because there have been systematic crimes and violations of the law since 1973, when the community was founded," Barrera said.

The Human Rights Commission said Tuesday it had already sent inspectors to New Jerusalem and demanded the government send police to guard the schoolchildren and classrooms.

The religion was founded by Nabor Cardenas, "Papa Nabor," a defrocked parish priest who said it was based on messages from the Virgin Mary relayed by an illiterate old woman. Together with supposed clairvoyant Agapito Gomez, who channeled voices, orders and predictions from the spirit world, they ordered the building of the compound, along with towers, walls and multiple church buildings.

Members believe it will be the only place on earth spared from an impending Apocalypse, which they had predicted would occur in cataclysmic volcanic eruptions around the 2000 millennium.

Residents of the New Jerusalem compound cannot use many modern conveniences; women are not allowed to wear makeup, and must dress in robes and are referred to as "nuns" or "courtesans." Residents recite Mass in Latin and use old exorcism and baptism rituals long abandoned by the mainstream church.

Religious conflicts, often between evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics, still occur in some parts of rural Mexico, and have sometimes resulted led to thousands of residents being expelled from their towns.

But the last large-scale religious violence occurred in the 1926-1929 Cristero war, when harsh anti-clerical laws sparked an armed uprising by Roman Catholic rebels against Mexico's secular government and tens of thousands of people died.

Troubled Pakistanis turn to exorcism for help

By Rebecca Conway (Reuters, December 20, 2011)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36650/?&place=pakistan&section=islam

Karachi, Pakistan - A girl in a long black shirt screams incoherently, banging her head against a wall at a Sufi shrine in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Sania Haneef's family says she is possessed by a demon.

Doctors could not help, so they brought the college student, kicking and screaming, to be exorcised by the spirit of a saint.

The West mostly associates Pakistan with Taliban militants who force women to cover from head to toe, blow up girls' schools and carry out suicide bombings. But Islam in the South Asian nation of 180 million is far more diverse.

Many flock to shrines like the one where Haneef's relatives seek solace in the Sufi strand of Islam abhorred by militants and considered more liberal in its philosophy than other branches followed by Shi'ites and Sunnis.

"Sania has been possessed since she was six years old," her brother, Mohammed, said, describing how an evil spirit, known as a jinn, would speak through her in a man's voice.

"The shrine has captured the spirit. Sania will be cured soon. None of us is leaving until that happens."

Pakistanis are beset by problems -- violence, crippling power cuts, poverty and dilapidated hospitals are but a few.

The government, seen as inept and corrupt, offers little relief.

Many people think their suffering is inflicted by evil spirits intent on destroying marriage prospects, businesses and health, and that only Sufi saints can help.

But that's a risky belief in Pakistan. Militants, including the al Qaeda-linked Taliban, have over the years bombed Sufi shrines which they consider heretical.

During an annual celebration this year at one in the central Pakistani town of Dera Ghazi Khan, the Taliban dispatched suicide bombers who killed 41 people.

A double suicide bombing in 2010 at Pakistan's most important Sufi shrine, in the city of Lahore, killed about 42 people.

But fears of possession, and life's many challenges, keep driving people back to the shrines. Sufism is a mystical form of Islam which adheres closely to the traditions of Islam but also reflects secularism and universalism in spiritual matters.

It is especially strong in Sindh province, where Pakistan's biggest city and commercial hub of Karachi is located.

"JINNS HAVE SEX WITH US"

"The whole concept of jinns, which previously would have been a belief in some other kind of spirit, has been converted into Islamic parlance," said Ali Khan, an anthropologist at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Self-proclaimed exorcists thrive on these beliefs. They claim special powers from God which enable them to help people cope with everything, from domestic disturbances to infertility and impotence. Some even say they can help people find love.

In a dimly lit shack just outside a shrine, Syed Aliuddin, wearing a white robe and silk cap set with a green stone resembling an emerald, listens to people lament.

One man, an electrician, complains his wife is disobedient. In a carefully rehearsed ritual, the exorcist with a white beard writes prayers on strips of paper and douses them in water.

Customers then drink it, believing his promise that it only takes 10 minutes to take effect.

Aliuddin says he can fight 18,000 types of evil spirits made from fire. Like others in his trade, he is keeping pace with the information age, running his own website and offering consultations by email and mobile phone.

"Some possess bodies out of jealousy, others out of love, some have other motives," said Aliuddin, who charges between 50 rupees (55 cents) and 250 rupees a session, which last up to 30 minutes.

"Jinns swim inside us when they possess us, feed on us, have sex with each other and with us."

The more serious the issue, the more radical the cure.

Jamila Bibi turned to the Abdullah Shah Ashabi shrine in the ancient, dusty town of Thatta in Sindh province.

Her son, Muhammed, began having violent fits four months ago. The 18-year-old is chained by his ankle to a wall. He sits silently, staring at others who are chained or are praying.

"We want him to be close to the spirit of the saint. We have had to chain him so he doesn't hit other people," she said.

In a country where a heavy stigma is attached to mental illness, and the state spends little on health, many see spiritual healing as the only option.

"This is more about a lack of education and awareness, rather than access to medical facilities. It's a desperate attempt to seek hope," said psychologist Rizwan Taj.

Nearby, Rahim Yar, who suffers from memory loss and extreme physical weakness, starts screaming.

He has been at the shrine, which has marble floors and surrounds a domed tomb of a Sufi saint, for four years.

"The jinn inside me says he needs to take me to India, to a temple where people are sacrificed," Rahim said.

"He says he will not leave me and I must be sacrificed."