Pope John Paul l l and Exorcisms

I heard something about this on the news, I thought it was interesting.

THE REV. GABRIELE Amorth, an exorcist for the Rome diocese, told La Stampa newspaper, that the most recent exorcism involved a young woman who appeared to be possessed during the pope's general audience. This girl was rolling around on the ground. People in the Vatican had never seen anything like it. For us exorcists it is run of the mill Amorth said.

A former papal aide, the late Cardinal Jacques Martin, wrote in his memoirs that John Paul performed an exorcism on an Italian woman in 1982. A second case occurred during John Paul's general audience two years ago, Amorth said at that time. A papal spokesman said then that the pope comforted the woman, but he did not believe John Paul performed an exorcism. In 1999, the Vatican issued guidelines for driving out devils, stressing the power of evil. John Paul has repeatedly sought to convince the skeptical that the devil is very much in the world. Amorth told La Stampa said the pope had carried out the exorcisms because he wanted to give an example to his priests.

SPITTING NAILS --- For Roman Catholics, exorcism is the casting out of what is believed to be an evil spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands. Amorth said possession by demons took many shapes.

I have seen many strange things...objects such as nails spat out. The devil told a woman that he would make her spit out a transistor radio and lo and behold she started spitting out bits and pieces of a radio transistor he said. I have seen levitations, and a force that needed six or eight men to hold the person still. Such things are rare, but they happen he said. Amorth said the woman whom the Pope exorcised in September was still undergoing treatment. It's a very serious case. A series of curses he said. The interview was published a day after the Pope warned of the daily temptations of the devil during his Sunday address.

The devil, the ;prince of this world even today continues his insidious actions. Each and every man...is tempted by the devil when he least expects it the Pope said. The official Roman 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.

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 19 ; The Vatican said Tuesday it would neither confirm nor deny a report that Pope John Paul II has now carried out three exorcisms during his papacy, the latest in September.

The Associated Press and Reuters

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