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Pontifical University’s Course Will Highlight Perils of Satanism
National Catholic Register, Jan. 16-22, 2005
by EDWARD PENTIN, Register Correspondent
VATICAN CITY — The subtle snares of Satan will soon come under a spotlight when a Vatican university in Rome begins offering a course on Satanism.
The short program, “Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation,” kicks off in February at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in response to an increase in cases of devil worship, particularly in Italy.
In Milan earlier this year, two teen-age members of a heavy metal rock band, linked to a sect called the “Beasts of Satan,” killed other band members in a human sacrifice. The gruesome killings followed the murder of a nun by two adolescents obsessed with satanic symbols four years ago in Lombardy.
In a Dec. 9 statement, the university said such tragedies were an “alarm bell to take seriously a problem which is still far too underestimated.”
As many as 5,000 people, three-quarters of them ages 17 to 25, are thought to be members of some 1,000 satanic cults in Italy. The Regina Apostolorum course will give priests and advanced students of theology the opportunity to take a closer look at manifestations of Satanism and the occult in the world of today’s youth, particularly in rock music, magazines, comics, video games and the Internet.
Carlo Climati, a course leader, said Satanism “confuses human, religious and cultural values.” The university program is intended to provide participants with “keys to understanding” how such misguided beliefs are spread, particularly through the media. Climati emphasized that, while they may seem harmless, satanic manifestations in the media can be damaging when “used in the wrong way.”
The curriculum will draw on the latest scientific data on the paranormal and include studies on demonology, the notion of the devil in sacred texts, and the pathology and medical treatment of people suffering from possession.
“The seminar will conclude with the testimony of two exorcists who will explain how to distinguish between someone who is ill and requiring medical care, and one who is ‘possessed by demons,’” Climati said.
Exorcisms
For Legionary Father Thomas Williams, the dean of Regina Apostolorum, it is vital that the course be correctly taught. “(Satanic possession) should be dealt with soberly since such things easily lend themselves to exaggeration and can even become the subject of morbid curiosity,” he cautioned.
For many priests who are experts in the field of exorcism, the program is timely. They argue that in reaction to hysterical excesses in earlier times — such as witch burnings in the Middle Ages — the Church has swung too far in the opposite direction, neglecting the existence of the devil and the paranormal.
According to Rome’s chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, there has been a significant decrease in effective exorcisms since the Second Vatican Council. Speaking to the Italian magazine L’Espresso earlier this year, Father Amorth suggested there are serious flaws in a new ritual devised by the Vatican from 1990-2000. He added that courses on the subject have been poorly taught in seminaries and noted that large parts of Europe are without exorcists despite Church law stipulating that one be present in every diocese.
A major cause of these problems, Father Amorth said, is that many bishops and priests no longer believe in the existence of the devil. “We are seeing that Satan himself is taking advantage of this, accommodating tolerance to spread his cult ever more broadly, with rituals that often involve the most macabre violence,” he warned.
Pontifical University’s Course Will Highlight Perils of Satanism
National Catholic Register, Jan. 16-22, 2005
by EDWARD PENTIN, Register Correspondent
VATICAN CITY — The subtle snares of Satan will soon come under a spotlight when a Vatican university in Rome begins offering a course on Satanism.
The short program, “Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation,” kicks off in February at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in response to an increase in cases of devil worship, particularly in Italy.
In Milan earlier this year, two teen-age members of a heavy metal rock band, linked to a sect called the “Beasts of Satan,” killed other band members in a human sacrifice. The gruesome killings followed the murder of a nun by two adolescents obsessed with satanic symbols four years ago in Lombardy.
In a Dec. 9 statement, the university said such tragedies were an “alarm bell to take seriously a problem which is still far too underestimated.”
As many as 5,000 people, three-quarters of them ages 17 to 25, are thought to be members of some 1,000 satanic cults in Italy. The Regina Apostolorum course will give priests and advanced students of theology the opportunity to take a closer look at manifestations of Satanism and the occult in the world of today’s youth, particularly in rock music, magazines, comics, video games and the Internet.
Carlo Climati, a course leader, said Satanism “confuses human, religious and cultural values.” The university program is intended to provide participants with “keys to understanding” how such misguided beliefs are spread, particularly through the media. Climati emphasized that, while they may seem harmless, satanic manifestations in the media can be damaging when “used in the wrong way.”
The curriculum will draw on the latest scientific data on the paranormal and include studies on demonology, the notion of the devil in sacred texts, and the pathology and medical treatment of people suffering from possession.
“The seminar will conclude with the testimony of two exorcists who will explain how to distinguish between someone who is ill and requiring medical care, and one who is ‘possessed by demons,’” Climati said.
Exorcisms
For Legionary Father Thomas Williams, the dean of Regina Apostolorum, it is vital that the course be correctly taught. “(Satanic possession) should be dealt with soberly since such things easily lend themselves to exaggeration and can even become the subject of morbid curiosity,” he cautioned.
For many priests who are experts in the field of exorcism, the program is timely. They argue that in reaction to hysterical excesses in earlier times — such as witch burnings in the Middle Ages — the Church has swung too far in the opposite direction, neglecting the existence of the devil and the paranormal.
According to Rome’s chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, there has been a significant decrease in effective exorcisms since the Second Vatican Council. Speaking to the Italian magazine L’Espresso earlier this year, Father Amorth suggested there are serious flaws in a new ritual devised by the Vatican from 1990-2000. He added that courses on the subject have been poorly taught in seminaries and noted that large parts of Europe are without exorcists despite Church law stipulating that one be present in every diocese.
A major cause of these problems, Father Amorth said, is that many bishops and priests no longer believe in the existence of the devil. “We are seeing that Satan himself is taking advantage of this, accommodating tolerance to spread his cult ever more broadly, with rituals that often involve the most macabre violence,” he warned.
