'Harry Potter and yoga are evil', says Catholic Church exorcist

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In the Dec 9th issue of the magazine The Week it says the former chief exorcist of the Vatican has denounced yoga as a tool of Satin. Fr. G. Amorth ,86yrs, who is Pres. -for-life of the International Assoc. Of Exorcists, says the increasing popular Eastern discipline and breathing can lead devotees to Hinduism and thus to a “false belief in reincarnation and a unholy worship of the body”. Practicing yoga is Satanic", said Amoth.". “It leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.
I find this hard to believe. I think he should retire.

telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html
 
Big_Pat said:
In the Dec 9th issue of the magazine The Week it says the former chief exorcist of the Vatican has denounced yoga as a tool of Satin. Fr. G. Amorth ,86yrs, who is Pres. -for-life of the International Assoc. Of Exorcists, says the increasing popular Eastern discipline and breathing can lead devotees to Hinduism and thus to a “false belief in reincarnation and a unholy worship of the body”. Practicing yoga is Satanic", said Amoth.". “It leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.
I find this hard to believe. I think he should retire.
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I think what’s he saying is that if you include the spiritual aspect of Yoga, which is not compatible with Catholic teaching, you open a haven to let demons enter you.
 
Big_Pat said:
In the Dec 9th issue of the magazine The Week it says the former chief exorcist of the Vatican has denounced yoga as a tool of Satin. Fr. G. Amorth ,86yrs, who is Pres. -for-life of the International Assoc. Of Exorcists, says the increasing popular Eastern discipline and breathing can lead devotees to Hinduism and thus to a “false belief in reincarnation and a unholy worship of the body”. Practicing yoga is Satanic", said Amoth.". “It leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.
I find this hard to believe. I think he should retire.
Click to expand...
Wait, so is this News or Editorial, or are you just completely in the wrong forum and have no clue what you’re doing?
 
Big_Pat said:
In the Dec 9th issue of the magazine The Week it says the former chief exorcist of the Vatican has denounced yoga as a tool of Satin. Fr. G. Amorth ,86yrs, who is Pres. -for-life of the International Assoc. Of Exorcists, says the increasing popular Eastern discipline and breathing can lead devotees to Hinduism and thus to a “false belief in reincarnation and a unholy worship of the body”. Practicing yoga is Satanic", said Amoth.". “It leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.
I find this hard to believe. I think he should retire.
Click to expand...
  1. You provide no source for this quote. You certainly do tell us where it came from, why don’t you provide a link to it as well, so we can check out this article?
  2. You don’t tell why you find this hard to believe or why this means he should retire. Fr. Amorth is an expert on these types of things and what he has said here is hardly outlandish. The Church has cautioned against the practice of yoga; for more on this, see the document Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life , which is a series of reflections on New Age practices.
-ACEGC
 
Yoga should be avoided by Catholics, simply because it is contrary to our faith. Most do not realize that the bodily positions in Yoga exercises are poses of the different Hindu gods. In Hinduism worship is done through bodily poses, and each pose represents the different gods that are being worshiped. In Yoga, a pose is held for 20-30 seconds at a time, and then switches to another pose. Thus an hour of Yoga is an hour of bodily worship of the different gods represented in many of the poses, so I can see why Fr. Amorth might tell people to avoid Yoga…
 
Big_Pat said:
In the Dec 9th issue of the magazine The Week it says the former chief exorcist of the Vatican has denounced yoga as a tool of Satin. Fr. G. Amorth ,86yrs, who is Pres. -for-life of the International Assoc. Of Exorcists, says the increasing popular Eastern discipline and breathing can lead devotees to Hinduism and thus to a “false belief in reincarnation and a unholy worship of the body”. Practicing yoga is Satanic", said Amoth.". “It leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.
I find this hard to believe. I think he should retire.
Click to expand...
Before people start saying Fr. Amorth is off his rocker for saying stretching exercises are evil, let me suggest that Fr. Amorth’s understanding of the term may be very different from that of the average Joe on the street. He is an expert in the field of exorcism, and sometimes his use of specialized terminology may not be known by most laymen.

When he says “Yoga”, he is not talking about grandma going for stretching exercises at her local gym. While there is an element of New Age mysticism that some Yoga practitioners are involved with… and it is a part of worship for some Hindus… this is also not what Fr. Amorth is referring to.

Here is what Fr. Amorth most likely means when he says Yoga:
From Researches into Chinese Superstitions: Vol. II by Fr. Henry Dore, S.J.
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Foot note 2 on Pg III of the preface:
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Yoga: Incantations accompanied by mysterious movements and distortions of the hands and fingers for magic purposes.
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On the same page III it says…
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Buddhists have also their own system of charms or “Yoga” (2), which has its “Dharani” (3) or formulas for removing “Mara” (4) and ensuring good for mankind. They have borrowed much from Taoists, hence the Reader will frequently find in this Volume a Taoist charm and Buddhist charm placed side by side each other, and producing an identical effect.
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The term “Yoga” is to be understood to not only be part of Hindu mysticism, but is also prevalent in all forms of western and eastern mysticism under this definition. “Yoga” can also include positions and movements of the whole body.

Anyone who is a fan of old Ninja movies and the Martial Arts will remember that the practitioners of Ninjitsu often used hand incantations as part of their meditations before battle.
 
Here is a recent news link regarding Fr. Amorth’s statements about the spiritual dangers of yoga and Harry Potter.
telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html

His views should not be presumed to be those of the Church. They are his opinion, informed by many years of study and experience. As the chief exorcist for the Vatican, it is his duty to be be alert to all possible dangers. However, even the best watchman sometimes sees things moving in shadows which aren’t really there.

I think we need to take into account all those things in assessing his recent statements.
 
Wow…first it’s Harry Potter, now it’s Yoga. I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my lifetime. Pretty soon Breathing will be a sin.
 
I have never understood the belief that because something* can* lead one away from the faith, it should be avoided by all faithful. So because a few people who did yoga became Hindu, I should not be allowed to do so myself? So many people have been lead away from God by reading the bible, so I guess we shouldn’t be allowed to do that either.

And what of all those years I played soccer, doing stretches before each game that, surprise, surprise, I was to later discover were yoga poses? Was I at risk of becoming Hindu all those years, or does knowing from where it derives have an integral effect?
 
I’m glad we have spiritual leaders to warn us about this stuff. I’d hate to do anything that would pull me away from Christ, the source of my hope and joy.
 
Dale_M said:
Here is a recent news link regarding Fr. Amorth’s statements about the spiritual dangers of yoga and Harry Potter.
telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html

His views should not be presumed to be those of the Church. They are his opinion, informed by many years of study and experience. As the chief exorcist for the Vatican, it is his duty to be be alert to all possible dangers. However, even the best watchman sometimes sees things moving in shadows which aren’t really there.

I think we need to take into account all those things in assessing his recent statements.
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Fr. Amorth frequently pops up in threads here. He is invariably cited as “chief exorcist for the Vatican.” I have never seen any evidence that such a position exists. Similarly, given that even cardinal-electors must step down at 80, I doubt that Fr. Amorth, at 86, is chief of anything. His statements regarding Harry Potter and yoga as provided by him to various UK newspapers appear to be frequently recycled years after they originated. In reading about Fr. Amorth, he apparently stated in 2000 that he had, at that point, conducted 50,000 exorcisms, which would work out to 10 per day, 7 days per week, for the entire duration of his priesthood. I find that dubious and totally inconsistent with the level of scrutiny that I understand is brought to cases of alleged “demon possession.”
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Fr. Amorth frequently pops up in threads here. He is invariably cited as “chief exorcist for the Vatican.” I have never seen any evidence that such a position exists. Similarly, given that even cardinal-electors must step down at 80, I doubt that Fr. Amorth, at 86, is chief of anything. His statements regarding Harry Potter and yoga as provided by him to various UK newspapers appear to be frequently recycled years after they originated. In reading about Fr. Amorth, he apparently stated in 2000 that he had, at that point, conducted 50,000 exorcisms, which would work out to 10 per day, 7 days per week, for the entire duration of his priesthood. I find that dubious and totally inconsistent with the level of scrutiny that I understand is brought to cases of alleged “demon possession.”
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Every priest has the ability to say a minor exorcism prayer. It only takes a few seconds to say it, and it’s given like any other blessing. Considering the number of people who visit his offices every day, the number is very likely in this context. Unfortunately, the articles who reported him saying that didn’t clarify to the laymen what exactly the poor old priest exactly meant.

Don’t take my word for it. You’ll find mention of the minor exorcism prayer in the source below.

Scroll down and listen to Fr. Ripperger’s (FSSP) seminar on Spiritual Warfare if you’d like to inform yourself further:

sensustraditionis.org/multimedia.html
 
Come off it. Okay, Harry Potter isn’t ‘literature’ and some of the books are too long. But evil?

On the contrary, it is very positive in that it got very many young people interested in reading.

I seriously question whether anyone really made such outlandish claims about a children’s book and yoga. If this person actually said these thing I question his judgement and his ability to decide whether a person needs an exorcism. Perhaps this guy missed his true calling as a comedian.
 
Sonic said:
Every priest has the ability to say a minor exorcism prayer. It only takes a few seconds to say it, and it’s given like any other blessing. Considering the number of people who visit his offices every day, the number is very likely in this context. Unfortunately, the articles who reported him saying that didn’t clarify to the laymen what exactly the poor old priest exactly meant.

Don’t take my word for it. You’ll find mention of the minor exorcism prayer in the source below.

Scroll down and listen to Fr. Ripperger’s (FSSP) seminar on Spiritual Warfare if you’d like to inform yourself further:

sensustraditionis.org/multimedia.html
Click to expand...
There is a big difference between saying a minor exorcism prayer and performing a full blown exorcism.
 
Farsight001 said:
There is a big difference between saying a minor exorcism prayer and performing a full blown exorcism.
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I know that, but did the source of the quote clarify whether Father meant a major or minor exorcism? I’m just basing my statement on what Fr. Ripperger stated.

Do you have a source that says Fr. Amorth meant major exorcisms? From the context of his book, my understanding is that he meant minor exorcism prayers.

I’ve got several sources on the subject if you want to go through them…

forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8051732&postcount=7
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8052879&postcount=10
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8054013&postcount=11
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8054425&postcount=13
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8058891&postcount=16
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Fr. Amorth frequently pops up in threads here. He is invariably cited as “chief exorcist for the Vatican.” I have never seen any evidence that such a position exists. Similarly, given that even cardinal-electors must step down at 80, I doubt that Fr. Amorth, at 86, is chief of anything. His statements regarding Harry Potter and yoga as provided by him to various UK newspapers appear to be frequently recycled years after they originated. In reading about Fr. Amorth, he apparently stated in 2000 that he had, at that point, conducted 50,000 exorcisms, which would work out to 10 per day, 7 days per week, for the entire duration of his priesthood. I find that dubious and totally inconsistent with the level of scrutiny that I understand is brought to cases of alleged “demon possession.”
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If all we have to do to become possessed is read a certain work of fiction or make a certain pose, we are in big trouble. I think God and the angels are able to do a better job restraining the demons than that.
 
Sonic said:
I know that, but did the source of the quote clarify whether Father meant a major or minor exorcism? I’m just basing my statement on what Fr. Ripperger stated.

Do you have a source that says Fr. Amorth meant major exorcisms? From the context of his book, my understanding is that he meant minor exorcism prayers.

I’ve got several sources on the subject if you want to go through them…

forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8051732&postcount=7
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8052879&postcount=10
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8054013&postcount=11
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8054425&postcount=13
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8058891&postcount=16
Click to expand...
Considering that the vast VAST majority of people don’t know there’s such a thing as a minor exorcism prayer, it is deceptive to simply call it an exorcism, giving the impression of a full blown, The Exorist style, exorcism, when it is just a prayer.
 
Farsight001 said:
Considering that the vast VAST majority of people don’t know there’s such a thing as a minor exorcism prayer, it is deceptive to simply call it an exorcism, giving the impression of a full blown, The Exorist style, exorcism, when it is just a prayer.
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Fr. Amorth’s native language is Italian. That means he must either talk to the press through an interpreter… either in person or through the translation of written text from an Italian reporter or news source.

There are so many places in that process where terminology can by misunderstood or twisted, that it’s not prudent to simply assume that deception is going on. As much as the news media is sometimes inaccurate in its reporting and sensationalizes headlines, can you honestly say Father or anyone in that process has purposely been deceptive?
 
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