Gabriele Amorth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Amorth was born in Modena, Italy in 1925. He was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in 1954 and became an official Vatican exorcist in 1986 under the tutelage of Father Candido Amantini. In 1990, he founded the International Association of Exorcists and was president of honor until he retired, at 75, in the year 2000.

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.

The two books, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories, include references to official Roman Catholic teachings on Demonology[1], however the main emphasis is on Amorth's experience as an Exorcist[2]. Both include references to the diagnosis and treatment of spiritual problems. The books briefly cover the topics of demonic contraction and curses.[1]. 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."[2]

He is somewhat noted for his outstanding opinions including, his claim of having performed over 50,000 exorcisms (which range from "a few minutes" to "several hours"[3]), that the senior officials of the Nazi Party were actively involved with Satanism and that both Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin were possessed.[4]. 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."[5]

It was in an interview with the London Sunday Telegraph that Father Gabriele Amorth stressed that "People need to know what we do."[6] 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."[7]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ An Exorcist: More Stories, Gabriele Amorth, Ignatius Press, 2000.
  2. ^ An Exorcist: More Stories, Gabriele Amorth, Ignatius Press, 2000, page 115.
  3. ^ Brandreth, Gyles (2000-10-29). An Interview With Fr Gabriele Amorth (HTML). The Sunday Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2004-11-06. Retrieved on September 13, 2006.
  4. ^ "Hitler and Stalin were posessed by Devil, says Vatican exorcist", Daily Mail, 2006-09-28. Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
  5. ^ National Catholic Register, Vatican exorcist: Hitler Knew the Devil, Edward Pentin, October 26, 2006.
  6. ^ Brandreth, Gyles (2000-10-29). An Interview With Fr Gabriele Amorth (HTML). The Sunday Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2004-11-06. Retrieved on September 13, 2006.
  7. ^ Rome's chief exorcist warns parents against Harry Potter (HTML). Catholic Telecommunications (2000-01-04). Retrieved on March 3, 2007.

[edit] Further reading

  • Demonology (HTML). The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV. New Advent - Catholic Encyclopedia (1908). Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
  • Exorcist (HTML). The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. New Advent - Catholic Encyclopedia (1909). Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../g/a/b/Gabriele_Amorth_50e2.html"
In other languages