Kawika Singson February 29, 2016 Theology Capstone Final Draft The Underworld Throughout the history of the Church, there have been many occurrences of demons and paranormal activity. Leaders of the Church have come up with text and trained different people to handle these situations. With the advancement of demons, the qualifications of exorcists have drastically changed. Demons have become more knowledgeable of rituals used in exorcisms and have adapted to resist those rituals. Priests of the Catholic Church must be highly qualified and mentally strong in order to be an exorcist. As defined by Father Fortea, a demon is “a spiritual being of an angelic nature that has been condemned for eternity due to his rebellion against God.” Demons …show more content…
In the statement above, Mr. Bassey is referring to the realm of demons. He stated that the spirit realm is a dark and powerful place. This place contains all of the realities we do not see or truly experience until after death. If you mess with paranormal things in the wrong way, you could put yourself in a bad place. Michael Johnson states, “Whatever is said in the spirit realm becomes a reality.” This means that once you say anything in an exorcism, it becomes real and present. When you call to the demon to leave, you are acknowledging that the spirit, in fact, exists. Some spirits are very powerful and can cause many problems. Throughout much of history, many people have died from being overtaken by spirits. People who are possessed speak languages that they have never studied before, levitate, curse religious artifacts, and are,put to strangle priests who attempt to help them. Only the most powerful books and rituals can be used to ward off the evils of the underworld. A very popular book that has been used in exorcisms for ages is the “Rituale Romanum.” This book is widely used throughout the world because it has had many instances of positive results. Reading rites from this books have rid people of demons and saved the lives of those involved with possessed …show more content…
Although there are no statistics of how many exorcisms are performed every year, the Vatican has said that possessions are scarce. Being around evil spirits can lead to attachments of spirits to the priest. Only after a man is ordained as a Catholic priest can he request that a bishop allow him to study to be an exorcist. After a bishop has reviewed this priest, he can give the okay for the priest to go to Rome to study exorcism. The Telegraph, an online blog in the United Kingdom, interviewed Father Savoldi to find out how a priest could learn to be an exorcism. Father Savoldi said: "Those studying to become exorcists should also study psychology and know how to distinguish between a mental illness and a possession. And, finally, they need to be very patient." A mental illness is defined as disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior like depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and eating disorders. A possession is domination by something (as an evil spirit, a passion, or an idea), or a psychological state in which an individual's normal personality is replaced by another. He said the priest who undertakes the office should be himself a holy man, of a blameless life, intelligent, courageous, and humble. He should avoid in the course of the rite anything resembling superstition and he should leave the medical aspects of the case to qualified physicians.” Being an exorcist takes a lot of physical and mental