The Anchoress says don't be alarmed by exorcist stories

She takes a common sense approach, imo.

If you accept that the supernatural exists, and you accept that there are things seen and unseen, then your common sense tells you that within that realm there will be that which is profoundly holy, and that which is quite the opposite. There is nothing unusual in any of that.

Is Catholic Church calling for more exorcists?

Thanks to Little Green Footballs, I came across this Daily Mail story about the call for more exorcists in the Catholic Church.

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult.

They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of "Godlessness."

Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession.

The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican "exorcistinchief," to the online Catholic news service Petrus.

"Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on," he said.

"Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You have to hunt high and low for a properly trained exorcist.

"Thankfully, Benedict XVI believes in the existence and danger of evil - going back to the time he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." The CDF is the oldest Vatican department and was headed by Benedict from 1982, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, until he became Pope in 2005.

Father Amorth said that during his time at the department Benedict had not lost the chance to warn humanity of the risk from the Devil.

But as LGF reports, according to UPI, the Vatican denies this is happening.

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 reported Saturday.

Paolo Scarafoni, a priest at Vatican University who teaches how to recognize and expel Satan, said exorcists increasingly are in demand because devil worship has become so common, reported ANSA, the Italian news agency. "Priests are being bombarded," Scarafoni told ANSA.

Poland opens exorcism centre

MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - Poland plans to open its first exorcism center, for those who believe they are possessed by the devil, in the town of Poczernin 30 km (18 miles) from the city of Szczeczin, Polish media said Wednesday.

Andrzej Trojanowski, a Catholic priest working in the city says the center will be equipped with a chapel and will have a psychiatrist on hand.

Trojanowski said there was a demand for the service as he deals with up to 20 people a week allegedly possessed by the devil.

The center was the idea of the Catholic Church in Poland, which already has around 50 working exorcists, and the project is expected to provide spiritual help and guidance to the needy.

According to priests their service is popular with visitors from Germany, which has no working exorcists.

Many consider those who claim to be possessed are just mentally ill, whereas others contend that those diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses are really possessed by the devil.

The practice of exorcism by priests and clergy became very popular in the 1970s, which coincided with the 1973 release of the world-wide blockbuster movie The Exorcist.

Number of exorcists in the U.S. has grown says priest

From KTVI - myFOXstl.com --

The 1973 horror film, "The Exorcist," is considered one of the scariest movies ever made. Surprisingly, the church says the movie is a fairly reliable guide in what to look for in possession. "Everything that appears in the film happened in some exorcism in history. Everything. Even the case of the demon going inside the priest,” said Father Jose Antonio Fortea, who is considered one of the world's leading authorities on exorcism. The priest from Madrid, Spain is a Vatican trained exorcist. He was in St. Louis recently, but would not say why. Dan asked if there are Catholic exorcists in St. Louis. "I will not say about names or dioceses where exorcists are but here in the diocese, of course, they will take care of every case, I assure you," the priest answered.

After writing a doctorate thesis on exorcism and demonic possession, Fortea wrote a book called "Interview With An Exorcist." He has performed dozens of exorcisms over the past ten years.

Fr. Fortea: "I have everyday."

Dan Gray: "Everyday?"

Fr. Fortea: "Everyday a knock at the door of my parish, people wanting to know if they are possessed or not."

Fortea says in every case the exorcist must look for four types of behavior to determine possession:

Superhuman Strength

"Very often you need four, six or even more people to restrain a person," Fortea said.

Fierce Reaction To Holy Things

Use Of Languages That The Person Normally Would Not Know

Hidden Knowledge

"I remember one case, she knew perfectly whole Bible," the priest said.

Fortea says in most exorcisms he confronts demons but one case was very different. He told Dan in an exclusive interview, "We continue praying and a terrible roar appear and he spoke with pride that we did not experience before. And when we ask tell us your name, in the name of Jesus, he say I am Satan."

The priest says during that exorcism Satan forecast the war in Iraq. "Before the war of Iraq, we did not ask to him but he say I won the war because I won suffering, destruction and death."

Fortea says there are now about 70 Catholic exorcists in the U.S, up from four just four years ago. The reason for the increase in possessions?

"Almost always is witchcraft, witchcraft or somebody related to a satanic cult that invoked demons to get that person. People that go to Satanic rock concerts that hear for hours and hours that kind of music then they are affected by unclean spirits. The whole evil that is in the world, the root is a spiritual root. If everybody go be fearful servant of God this world would be Eden."

Father Fortea says he meets people who are skeptical of demonic possession and he does consult psychiatrists to determine if a person who fears they are possessed has a mental problem. But he says some cases can't be explained by psychiatry. He says if people pray and read the Bible everyday, evil influences will disappear step by step.

Be sure to go to Dan Gray's Blog on myFOXstl.com to hear my more of his personal comments about interviewing an exorcist.

Fox News looks at whether the devil made Cho do it

Could Cho have been possessed by the Devil? Could that explain the massacre at Virginia Tech?

Dr. Richard Roberts, president of Oral Roberts University, shouts an unequivocal “Yes!”

“Based on what I’ve seen in the news," Roberts said in an interview, "there’s no doubt that this act was Satanic in origin."

Was Cho demon possessed? or mentally ill?

Franklin Graham thinks the Virginia Tech shooter was demonically possessed.

Graham, who leads Charlotte's Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, dismissed the idea that the killer was mentally ill or seeking revenge.

"I don't think you can go out and murder innocent people just because somebody rejected you. We've all been rejected," he said. "I believe there are demons that dwell in the human heart."

This Beliefnet post has some interesting links:

The mainstream media explanation for the tragic actions of a young college student in Blacksburg, Va., has been that he was troubled, sick, mentally ill and a textbook case of a school shooter.

Not everyone is going to be satisfied with those explanations, though, since there is really no way to know for sure what compelled Cho Seung-hui to release his heinous rampage.