Gabriele Amorth

Fr. Gabriele Amorth (born May 1, 1925) is an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the senior exorcist of the Diocese of Rome.

Early life and work

Amorth was born in Modena, Italy in 1925. He was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in 1954 and became an official exorcist in June 1986 under the tutelage of Father Candido Amantini. He is a member of the Society of St. Paul, the Congregation founded by James Alberione in 1914.

In 1990, he founded the International Association of Exorcists and was president until he retired, at 75, in the year 2000. He is now honorary president for life of the association.

Publication

Amorth authored two books specifically on exorcism. The publications marked a defining moment in literary history, being the first public documents to treat this subject. The two books An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories are not official Roman Catholic documents, rather personal accounts of his office as Exorcist. The books use witness accounts and personal experience as evidence.

Views

The two books, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories, include references to official Roman Catholic teachings on Demonology, however the main emphasis is on Amorth's experience as an Exorcist. Both include references to the diagnosis and treatment of spiritual problems. The books briefly cover the topics of demonic contraction and curses.. On curses he states that, "A curse can originate from such things as maledictions by close relatives, a habit of blaspheming, membership in the Freemasonry, spiritic or magic practices, and so on.

He is somewhat noted for his opinions including, his claim of having performed over 50,000 exorcisms (which range from "a few minutes" to "several hours), that the senior officials of the Nazi Party were actively involved with Satanism and that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were possessed.. He attributes the number of exorcisms performed to his opinion that "People have lost the Faith, and superstition, magic, Satanism, or Ouija boards have taken its place, which then open all the doors to the presence of demons.

It was in an interview with the London Sunday Telegraph that Father Gabriele Amorth stressed that "People need to know what we do. Father Amorth was also one of the voices that made public warnings to parents about J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, noting that the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil.

A recent announcement attributed to Father Gabriele Amorth to the online Catholic news service Petrus hailed the formation of adjuristine-exorcism squads by Pope Benedict XVI. The report, which was picked up by the UK newspaper the Daily Mail on December 29, 2007, originally appeared on Petrus and claimed the squads were being dispatched worldwide to "tackle the rise of Satanism". Vatican officials immediately dismissed the reports but it was an unusual instance where the existence of adjurist and adjuristine activity was acknowledged in the press.

Bibliography

• An Exorcist Tells his Story, with Nicoletta V. Mackenzie 1999. (ISBN 0-89870-710-2)
• Gospel of Mary: A Month With the Mother of God, 2000. (ISBN 0-8189-0871-8)
• An Exorcist: More Stories, with Nicoletta V. Mackenzie 2002 (ISBN 0-89870-917-2)
• Esorcisti e Psichiatri, 2002 EDB - Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna. (ISBN 80-7192-981-6)
• Pater Pio: Lebensgeschichte eines Heiligen, 2003. (ISBN 3-7171-1108-6)

References

Further reading

• Fr. Gabriele Amorth excerpt from An Exorcist Tells his Story. An Exorcist Tells his Story. Ignatius Press. (1999). Retrieved on 2006-09-13..
• The Reform of the Rite of Exorcism. 30 Days. (2000). Retrieved on 2006-09-13..
• Interview at the Internet archive)
• Demonology. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV. New Advent - Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-03-03..
• Exorcist. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. New Advent - Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-03-03..
• Vatican to create more exorcists to tackle 'evil'. The Daily Telegraph, 2007-12-29. The Daily Telegraph, British newspaper. Retrieved on 2007-12-29..