20 Satanic groups identified in Italy

Rome, Italy, Mar 30 - Satanists are known to meet in deconsecrated churches or woods, donning dark garments, wherein chanting exhortations to Satan and conducting esoteric drug and sex-based rituals, which include animal and even human sacrifices. Between 1998 and 2004 Italy witnessed a surge in violent Satanist murders, the last of which involved the so-called "Beasts if Satan". Experts describe the phenomenon as a cultural residue of medieval credence, opposed to modern culture, but the phenomenon has presently extended all walks of life and all ages. The Interior Ministry's 1998 report on "Satanic Sects and New Religious Movements" identified some 20 Satanic groups accounting for 300 odd members. That figure is probably a large underestimate of today's situation, especially in the face of mass culture and new communications tools: through rock music, films, cinema, literature, TV and internet, Satanism has breached into youth culture.