Gabriele Amorth (1 May 1925 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned (" ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers onl ...

and

exorcist In some religions, an exorcist (from the Greek „ἐξορκιστής“) is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or performs the ridding of demons or other supernatural beings who are alleged to have possessed a person, ...

of the

Diocese of Rome The Diocese of Rome ( la, Dioecesis Urbis seu Romana; it, Diocesi di Roma) is the ecclesiastical district under the direct jurisdiction of the Pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church ...

who claimed to have performed tens of thousands of exorcisms throughout his life. Amorth, along with five other priests, founded the International Association of Exorcists.

Life and work

Amorth was born in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label= Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and '' comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. A town, and seat o ...

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 1 May 1925. He was ordained a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in 1954 and was appointed an exorcist of the

in June 1986, under the tutelage of

Candido Amantini Servant of God Candido Amantini (January 31, 1914 – September 22, 1992), was an Italian Roman Catholic Passionist priest, Rev Fr Candido of the Immaculate, C.P., a Master Exorcist, spiritual director and confessor. For 36 years as Fr Amantini ...

. He was a member of the Society of St. Paul, the congregation founded by

Giacomo Alberione James Alberione, SSP ( it, Giacomo) (4 April 1884 – 26 November 1971), was an Italian Catholic priest, and the founder of the Society of St. Paul, of the Daughters of St. Paul, of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, of the Sisters of Je ...

in 1914. In 1990, he founded the International Association of Exorcists and was president until his retirement in 2000. 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 Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

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 The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and grap ...

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 A spiritual gift or charism (plural: charisms or charismata; in Greek singular: χάρισμα ''charisma'', plural: χαρίσματα ''charismata'') is an extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit."Spiritual gifts". ''A Dictionary of th ...

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.

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

teachings on

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or pseudoscience. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may ...

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 Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, 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: * ''An Exorcist Tells His Story'' - published on March 1, 1999 by Ignatius Press * ''An Exorcist: More Stories'' - published on February 1, 2002 by Ignatius Press * ''An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels'' - published on October 20, 2016 by Sophia Press * ''Father Amorth: My Battle Against Satan'' - published on November 15, 2018 by Sophia Press * ''The Devil is Afraid of Me: The Life and Work of the World's Most Popular Exorcist'' - published on January 19, 2020 by Sophia Press Amorth was also interviewed for the second episode of ''True Horror with Anthony Head'', presented by

Anthony Head Anthony Stewart Head (born 20 February 1954) is an English actor and singer. Primarily a performer in musical theatre, he rose to fame in the UK in the 1980s following his role in the Gold Blend couple television advertisements for Nescafé, w ...

. 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."

Film

The Pope's Exorcist ''The Pope's Exorcist'' is a 2023 American supernatural horror film directed by Julius Avery from a screenplay by Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos, based on the 1990 book ''An Exorcist Tells His Story'' and the 1992 book ''An Exorcist: ...

'' is a film about Amorth's work. It will be launched in April 2023. It features

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

Views

Views on yoga

At a film festival in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

(where he was invited to introduce the 2011 film about Exorcism called '' The Rite''), he is quoted as saying that

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

is satanic because it leads to practice of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

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 ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...

''."

Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi

Amorth claimed that

Emanuela Orlandi Emanuela Orlandi (born 14 January 1968) was a Vatican teenager who mysteriously disappeared while returning home from a flute lesson in Rome on 22 June 1983. Sightings of Orlandi in various places have been reported over the years, including in ...

, 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."

Distinctions

* Medal of Liberation (8 September 2016) by the Prefect of Rome in the presence of Italy's minister of defense, for the important role he played in the partisan struggle against the Nazis in 1943.

Bibliography

* ''An Exorcist Tells his Story'' (translated by Nicoletta V. Mackenzie), 1999. * ''Gospel of Mary: A Month With the Mother of God'', 2000. * ''An Exorcist: More Stories'' (translated by Nicoletta V. Mackenzie), 2002. * ''Esorcisti e Psichiatri'', 2002. * '' Pater Pio: Lebensgeschichte eines Heiligen'', 2003. * ''Dietro un sorriso: Beata

Alexandrina Maria da Costa Alexandrina Maria da Costa (30 March 1904 – 13 October 1955), best known as Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar, was a Portuguese mystic and victim soul, member of the Association of Salesian Cooperators, who was born and died in Balazar (a r ...

'', Elledici, 2006. * ''Memorie di un esorcista'', 2010. * ''An Exorcist Explains the Demonic'' (with Stefano Stimamiglio, translated by Charlotte J. Fasi), 2016.

Filmography

* '' The Devil and Father Amorth''

References

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amorth, Gabriele 1925 births 2016 deaths Religious leaders from Modena Catholic exorcists Italian anti-communists Italian memoirists Anti-Masonry 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Italian exorcists