When you see a headline like “Pope’s exorcist squads will wage war on Satan,” you have to wonder who, if anybody, is running the PR department down at the Vatican.
Granted, this particular headline, which appeared in Britain’s Daily Mail, is a wee bit sensational, but that’s what the Brit broadsheets tend to do when red meat is served up on a silver platter. And one of the many forms of journalistic red meat is anything that makes religious people look like superstitious primitives.
On the other hand, in this particular case, if the shoe fits . . .
Reportedly, each of the Pope’s bishops have been told to have in his diocese a number of priests who are trained to fight demonic possession. This so-called “exorcist squad” initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth — widely considered an exorcism “expert” — to the online Catholic news service Petrus.
“Thanks be to God, we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head-on,” the feisty father 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.”
Yep, I’m sure a “properly trained exorcist” is as hard to find these days as a good alchemist or catapult repairman, which must be rather disheartening to old school demon casters-out like Father Amorth.
Look, I’m no Catholic basher. And when it comes to the question of whether or not demons really exist, far be it from me to presume that I can provide the definitive answer. Let’s just say I maintain a healthy skepticism on the subject, even though surprisingly, at least to me, recent Gallup polls consistently show that some 70% of the population believe in the devil. But does that automatically convert to a 70% belief in the legitimacy of exorcisms? I have trouble believing that it does.
In any case, my intuition tells me that headlines involving “exorcist squads” are to be considered mini-PR disasters by the Vatican. And as if to confirm my intuition, the day after the story first appeared, the Vatican was already denying it.
Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, flatly stated: “Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of ordering local bishops to bring in garrisons of exorcists to fight demonic possession.”
Huh. So which holy father are we to believe, this one or the other one? Maybe it was just a case of ecclesiastical miscommunications. Or maybe it was an extreme case of wishful thinking on the part of Father Amorth, an old-school devil fighter, who misinterpreted some lesser edict like, say, a call for a few remedial courses on the basics of demonic possession.
Whatever it is, the last thing the Vatican needs these days, especially after the pedophile priests scandals of recent years, is headlines which place the church squarely back in the Dark Ages. How about a headline instead that says something positive, sensible and jet-age contemporary, like “Vatican drops senseless ban on contraception and joins the 20th century.”
Joining the 21st will be a bit more of a chore.
Greg Strange provides conservative commentary with plenty of acerbic wit on the people, politics, events and absurdities of our time. See more at his website: http://www.greg-strange.com/.
