Gabriele Amorth
Gabriele Amorth (1 May 1925 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian Catholic priest and exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who performed tens of thousands of exorcisms over his sixty plus years as a priest. As the appointed exorcist for the diocese of Rome, Amorth was the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican. Life and work. Amorth was born in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on 1 May 1925. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1954 and became an official exorcist in June 1986, under the tutelage of Candido Amantini. He was 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 in 2000. He was Honorary President for life of the association until his death. Amorth's favorite film was "The Exorcist". He thought it substantially correct and based on true events, although the special effects were exaggerated. In an interview with the "London Sunday Telegraph", Amorth stressed that "People need to know what we do." Amorth died at the age of 91 on 16 September 2016, a short time after he was hospitalised for pulmonary  complications. Exorcisms. In October 2000, it was reported he had performed over 50,000 exorcisms (which ranged from "a few minutes" to "several hours" in length). In March 2010, he said that the number had increased to 70,000. By May 2013, he said he had performed 160,000 exorcisms in the course of his ministry. According to Amorth, each exorcism does not represent a victim of possession, but rather each exorcism is counted as a prayer or ritual alone, and some possession victims required hundreds of exorcisms. Edward Peters, a professor of canon law, finds Amorth's claim to have personally performed  30,000 exorcisms over 9 years "astounding". Even accepting Amorth's claim that only 94 of his 30,000 exorcisms represented full-blown possession, that would have required roughly one case a month to be thoroughly examined and processed over nine years with hardly a break. Amorth believed that a person may be possessed by more than one demon at once, sometimes numbering in the thousands, which is what accounts for the high number of reputed demons exorcised. When asked whether the devil can strike inside the Vatican City, Amorth stated, "He has tried already. He did it in 1981 by attacking  John Paul II by working with those who armed Ali Ağca." He attributed 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." Amorth offered the following guidelines to those exercising the charism of exorcism. Any such person must be highly regarded for his prayer life, faith, acts of charity and judgement. In addition he must rely solely on the "Word of God" and traditional prayer, be completely detached from monetary concerns, profoundly humble  and treasure obscurity. He said that the new rite of exorcism is "a farce. An incredible obstacle that is likely to prevent us from acting against the demon." He remarked that the new exorcism rite forbids exorcisms on people who have been reportedly subjected to evil spells. Amorth exclaimed, "Absurd! Evil spells are by far the most frequent causes of possessions and evil procured through the demon: at least 90% of cases. It is as good as telling exorcists they can no longer perform exorcisms." He also noted that it "Solemnly declares that one should not carry out exorcisms if  one is not certain of the presence of the devil", while "it is only through exorcism that the demons reveal themselves". He considered the new rite "A blunt weapon...Efficacious prayers, prayers that had been in existence for twelve centuries, were suppressed and replaced by new ineffective prayers." Books. Amorth wrote two memoirs of his time as an exorcist - "An Exorcist Tells His Story" and "An Exorcist: More Stories". The books include references to official Roman Catholic teachings on demonology while 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. He states, "A curse can originate from such things as maledictions by close relatives, a habit of blaspheming, membership in Freemasonry, spiritic or magic practices, and so on." Father Amorth wrote more than thirty books in Italian, many of which have been translated into other languages. The following are his books in English: Amorth was also interviewed for the second episode of "True Horror with Anthony Head", presented by Anthony Head. He explained he would never perform an exorcism based solely on someone's claims of  possession; always directs people to psychiatrists and doctors first, and that when he sees someone is not possessed but the person still insists, he replies: "You have no devil. If you have a problem, talk to a good vet." Controversies. Views on yoga. At a film festival in Umbria (where he was invited to introduce the 2011 film about Exorcism called "The Rite"), he is quoted as saying that yoga is satanic because it leads to practice of Hinduism and "all eastern religions are based on a false belief in reincarnation" and "practicing yoga is satanic, it leads to evil  just like reading "Harry Potter"". Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. Amorth claimed that Emanuela Orlandi, an Italian schoolgirl who went missing in Rome in 1983 was kidnapped for a sex party by a gang involving Vatican police and foreign diplomats. He said that she was later murdered and her body disposed of. Amorth claimed that girls were recruited at the Vatican for parties, adding that her death "was a crime with a sexual motive."