Involving Priests and Clergy
When psychic and physical attacks have gotten out of control, most investigative groups will call in help from specialists — the demonologists, clergy, or shamans who deal with these things on a routine basis. The very idea that evil — in whatever form your religion or culture perceives it — can inhabit humans against our will is a terribly frightening concept. It is an idea so alarming that we usually seek protection from it through the representatives of organized religions, and the one most associated with exorcisms is, of course, the Roman Catholic Church.
Do non-Catholic paranormal investigators call in Catholic priests?
They do indeed, but they are just as likely to call in an Episcopal priest or a Jewish rabbi. Even though the Catholic Church has a long history of blessing troubled houses and performing exorcisms, many other churches offer these services as well.
Paranormal investigator and founder of T.R.I.P.R.G. Andrew Laird has a friend who is a Catholic priest. He is available to help T.R.I.P.R.G. if the group encounters anything that even smacks of the demonic. Laird says, “Any priest or ordained Christian minister can be an exorcist, so I am told. I have seen both at work and really there is little difference. With that said, I have been with Father John while he has taken part in exorcisms, but he does not consider himself an exorcist per se but an assistant.” The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, published an article that said Pope Benedict XVI ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to address the rise of Satanism and the increased interest in all things Satanic.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been in existence in some form since 1542. Benedict XVI served as its head from 1982 until 2005, when he became pope.
Every human culture has some sort of belief in ghosts and every culture also has prayers that are said to protect the living from the anger of the departed. There is a long tradition of belief in tormented spirits and demons in the Catholic Church, and special prayers were once said at the end of every mass as a protection from evil.
Pope John XXIII eliminated one Catholic prayer, addressed to St. Michael the Archangel, from the Mass in the 1960s.
Saint Michael the Archangel,
This is a brief version of the original prayer, which was composed by Pope Leo XIII more than 100 years ago. In 1888 Pope Leo XIII collapsed after a morning mass and appeared to be dead. After reviving, he repeated a bizarre conversation he said he had overheard, coming from near the tabernacle. Two voices conversed, voices the Pope alleged were those of Jesus Christ and the Devil. The Devil boasted that he could destroy the Church if he were granted seventy-five years to carry out his plan. He asked permission for “a greater influence over those who will give themselves to my service.” In response, Jesus reportedly replied: “You will be given the time and the power.”
Pope Leo XIII was so alarmed by what he had heard that he composed the Prayer to St. Michael. He gave a papal order that it was to be recited after all Low Masses.
The invocation of St. Michael the Archangel's name as protection against the dark forces is not uncommon among exorcists of all persuasions. He is viewed as a potent symbol of good and the leader of the armies of powerful angelic forces — a key player in the battle of good versus evil.
