EXORCISM

The act of driving out or warding off demons or evil spirits from persons, places, or things that are, or are believed to be, possessed or infested by them or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice. According to Catholic belief, demons are fallen angels who have rebelled against God. Excluded from friendship with God, they retain, nevertheless, their natural power of acting upon men and the material universe for their own evil purposes. This power is limited by Divine Providence, but it has been given wider scope in consequence of the sin of mankind. Exorcism is nothing more than a prayer to God (sometimes made publicly in the name of the Church, sometimes made privately) to restrain the power of the demons over men and things. This article summarizes the history of and present practice of the church in regard to exorcism, then adds some theological points.

History. The ancient Egyptians and Babylonians as well as other ethnic groups sometimes attributed certain diseases to demoniacal possession, and they believed in the efficacy of magical charms and incantations for banishing the demons. In the Old Testament, the Book of Tobia relates a devil that was said to have killed the seven husbands of Sara (6.14). Subsequently, "the angel Raphael took the devil, and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt" (8.3).

Acknowledging the reality of demonic possession, Jesus drove demons out of their victims, not by collusion with Beelzebub, the prince of devils, but by the finger of God (Mt 12.22–30; Mk 3.22–27; Lk 11.14–26). Christ also empowered the Apostles and Disciples to cast out the demons in His name (Mt 10.1; Mk 6.7; Lk 9.1). …