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  • The Theological Battle over the Rite of Exorcism, Cinderella of the New Rituale RomanumManfred Hauke

    I. IntroductIon

    The New Rite: Cinderella or Media Star?

    The six-year tenure of Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estvez as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments [CDW] brought to completion the revision of the official liturgical books of the Roman Rite which the Second Vatican Council had mandated. If we were to classify the liturgical books that appeared in the Medina years according to the reactions which they elicited in the secular media, the most noted work undoubtedly would be the new rite of exorcism. For the liberal mainstream in western countries, it was often presented as a deplorable concession to a medieval practice

    This article is an expansion of an address delivered at the international conference Sacrificium laudis: The Medina Years (996-00), hosted by the Research Institute for Catholic Liturgy at the Colombiere Center in Clarkston, MI, 8-0 October 005.

    Second Vatican Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium [henceforth SC] , in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, vol. , Trent-Vatican II, ed. and trans. Norman P. Tanner (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 990) 85: In order that the Christian people can more surely obtain the abundance of graces in the liturgy, the church wishes to make strenuous efforts at a general reform of the liturgy itself. Moreover, in the course of this renewal, the texts and rites must be organised so as to express more clearly the holy things which they represent, and so that thus the Christian people, insofar as this is possible, will be able to understand these things easily, and to enter into them through a celebration that is expressive of their full meaning, is effective, involving, and the communitys own.

    De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam, editio typica (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 999) [henceforth Ex 999] and ibid., editio typica emendata (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 004) [henceforth Ex 004]. Citations from De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam follow the emended version of 004 rather than the typical edition of 999, unless otherwise stated, since minor changes have been introduced to the text.

    Antiphon 0. (006): -69

  • that is senseless in the modern world.4 When Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estvez presented this new liturgical book in the Vatican Press Hall on 6 January 999,5 the event took even some prominent liturgical specialists by surprise. Manfred Probst, for instance, called the news surprising and noted: As far as I know, at least in the last ten years there has been no discussion in the liturgical commission of the German Bishops Conference about this topic.6

    In any case, there had been a long preparation. In the decree promulgating the new rite on November 998, Cardinal Medina recalls the Second Vatican Councils Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium of 96. The council had projected a revision of the sacramentals along two guidelines: active participation of the faithful and attention to the needs of our time.8 The immedi-ate preparation of the new ritual De exorcismis began ten years before its publication.9 In 990, the CDW sent a liturgical text ad interim to the national episcopal conferences and also consulted some special-ists under the seal of strict confidentiality.0 According to Cardinal

    4 See, for example, Manfred Probst and Klemens Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie zur Befreiung vom Bsen (Mnster: Aschendorff, 00) 9.

    5 Jorge Arturo Medina Estvez, Il rito degli esorcismi, . See also the English summary of the presentation and the discussion in the Vatican Press Hall in Zenit (6 Feb 999), titled Prefect for Divine Worship on the New Rite of Exorcism.

    6 Manfred Probst, Der groe Exorzismus ein schwieriger Teil des Rituale Romanum, Liturgisches Jahrbuch 49 (999) 4-6, here 4.

    Ex 999, p. . 8 SC 9: Sacramentalia recognoscantur, ratione habita normae

    primariae de conscia, actuosa et facili participatione fidelium, et attentis nostrorum temporum necessitatibus.

    9 See Medina Estvez, Il rito degli esorcismi. According to Nicola Giampietro, Il rinnovamento del rito degli esorcismi, Notitiae 5 (999) 64-6, here 0 [first appeared in: Rivista di Pastorale Liturgica (999) -84], the preparation took 5 years: Il lavoro costato quindici anni.... By this calculation, therefore, it would have begun in 984.

    0 See Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, . The draft, with the title De exorcismis: ritus ad interim, was dated 4 June 990 according to Gabriele Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective Against the Evil One, 30 Days (June 000) . On this draft of the rite of exorcism and the discussion concerning it, see Ren Laurentin, Il demonio mito o realt? (Milan: Massimo, 995) 0-; the original French edition is Le dmon: mythe ou ralit? (Paris: Fayard, 995). According to Franz Kohlschein, Der Exorzismus ein zwiespltiges, doch aktuelles Erbe der Kirche? Klerusblatt 8.8 (00) 9-8, here 80, another draft titled De exorcismis maioribus et cura pastorali obsessorum was produced in 99.

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    Medina, the new rite needed many studies, revisions, adaptations and modifications with various consultations of the episcopal confer-ences, after an analysis by the Ordinary Assembly of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Of the various parts of the Rituale Romanum, first promulgated in 64, the revision of the section on exorcism was the last to be undertaken, with the result that a Roman exorcist amusingly dubbed it the Cinderella of the Rituale. But has this Cinderella, like her namesake of fairy tale fame, been adorned with new splendor?

    One year after the appearance of the new rite, Anthony Ward, editor of Ephemerides liturgicae, noted: It is rather surprising that so far there have appeared in the specialized journals relatively few com-mentaries on this Rite and almost none that go beyond an initial pre-sentation. While some books have appeared, it is still true that the publications, seen as a whole, have been rather sparse thus far.4

    Medina Estvez, Il rito degli esorcismi, my translation. Gabriele Amorth, Un esorcista racconta (Rome: Dehoniane, 990)

    8. Editors, De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam, Ephemerides

    liturgicae [henceforth EL] 4 (000) . 4 See, in chronological order, Giuseppe Ferrara, Il nuovo Rituale

    degli esorcismi: strumento della signoria di Cristo, Notitiae 5 (999) -; Giampietro, Il rinnovamento del rito; Manfred Probst, Der groe Exorzismus; Ulrich Niemann, Exorzismus und/oder Therapie? Stimmen der Zeit 4 (999) 8-84; Anthony Ward, The Psalm Collects of the New Rite of Exorcism, EL 4 (000) 0-0; Achille M. Triacca, Spirito Santo ed esorcismo: in margine al recente Rituale, EL 4 (000) 4-69; idem, Esorcismo, in Liturgia, ed. Domenico Sartore et al. (Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San Paolo, 00) -5; Gabriele Amorth, Exorzisten und Psychiater, trans. Reinhold Ortner (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 00), Italian edition: Esorcisti e psichiatri (Bologna: Dehoniane, 004); idem, Letter of 9 August 000, reported in Andrea Gemma, Io, vescovo esorcista (Milan: Mondadori, 00) 64-; Kohlschein, Der Exorzismus ein zwiespltiges; Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie; Manlio Sodi, ed., Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione diabolica: teologia e pastorale dellesorcismo (Padua: Messaggero, 00), the contributions of which appeared first in Rivista liturgica 8 (000); Patrick Dondelinger, review of Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, in Theologische Revue 99 (00) 98-40; Ute Leimgruber, Kein Abschied vom Teufel: eine Untersuchung zur gegenwrtigen Rede vom Teufel im Volk Gottes (Mnster: LIT, 004) 69-6; Gabriele Nanni, Il dito di Dio e il potere di Satana: lesorcismo (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 004, reprint 005); Klemens Richter, Liturgie zur Befreiung vom Bsen statt Exorzismus, in Exorzismus oder Therapie? Anstze zur Befreiung vom Bsen, ed. Ulrich Niemann and Marion Wagner (Regensburg: Pustet, 005) 94-0; Ulrich Niemann et al., Stellungnahme zum Thema Das Bse und die Befreiung vom Bsen, -4; Istituto Sacerdos, ed., Esorcismo e preghiera di liberazione (Rome:

    MANFRED HAUKE

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    On the other hand, the faithful and the secular public generally have expressed considerable interest in this phenomenon. Publica-tions about angels and demons abound, even though many of these are to be regarded correctly as belonging rather to the realm of the esoteric and the New Age.5 Numerous problems derive from spirit-ism, satanism and magic practices. According to recent inquiries, in Italy alone more than ,000 magicians were consulted in the last five years by roughly ten million persons, that is, by nearly twenty percent of the population.6 Stimulated by television shows, every kind of occultism is on the rise in the western world. In the 980s, there were about twenty exorcists in Italy and fifteen in France; their number has increased to more than 00 in Italy and about 00 in France. Until now, nevertheless, it seems that the challenge from the occultist constituency within neopaganism has been underesti-mated by ecclesiastical personnel. Contrary to the expectations of its publishers, the Latin ritual De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam quickly sold out.8

    Exorcism or Prayer for Liberation from Evil?Neglect of the Lords command to practice exorcism is often the re-sult of embarrassment on the part of many theologians over demonic possession and exorcism. Certain currents have even dismissed the very existence of Satan and evil spirits. Possession is often explained away in psychological or parapsychological terms. The unease of these theologians is evident in a book by two German liturgists, Manfred Probst and Klemens Richter, who contrast the Ritual of 64 with the new proposed rite of exorcism. In the rite of 999, they note a continuity, a strong revision of the preceding text and several new aspects.9 As to continuity, they affirm: The language has become in some texts more sober, but it can be supported only

    Shalom, 005), containing material from the course for exorcists offered at the Pontificium Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum.

    5 See Manfred Hauke, La riscoperta degli angeli: note sul ricupero di un trattato dimenticato, Rivista teologica di Lugano 0 (005) 55-, here 55-6.

    6 See Gilles Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste! Testimonianze di un esorcista (Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San Paolo, 005) 64; the original French edition is Le Diable existe! Un exorciste tmoigne et rpond aux interrogations (Paris: Salvator, 004).

    See Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste, 65. 8 Manlio Sodi, Ma liberaci dal maligno, in Tra maleficio, patologie e

    possessione, 5-4, here : Un libro che, con sorpresa delleditore, andato letteralmente a ruba!

    9 Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 8.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

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    with difficulties, especially regarding the third imperative exorcism in which insulting the Devil in a good medieval manner has been more or less conserved.0 Probst and Richter themselves in turn ridicule the Middle Ages, but they also question Sacred Scripture when they ask: what reasons motivated the Roman redactors of this new fascicle of the Ritual again to accept the biblical and medieval ideas about possession by the Devil and his demons?

    This reaction from the German-speaking world is somewhat typi-cal. In 99, the German Bishops Conference established a commis-sion to study fundamental questions about possession and exorcism. In 98, this commission produced a draft for a so-called liturgy for liberation from evil, explained and, with some modification, proposed recently yet again by Probst and Richter. The title is itself significant: it mentions evil, but is not clear about the existence of the Evil One. The rite could be used without difficulty by a priest who does not believe in the existence of a personal Devil and other evil spirits. The choice of Gospel reading in the rite seems significant: the pericope of the temptation of Jesus in the desert is proposed in the first instance, although it has nothing to do with demonic posses-sion.4 A second proposal, based, according to the two liturgists,5 on the new rite of 999, explains in its Introduction the object of the intervention in this way: The most difficult fight that man has to support is the struggle with evil: with the evil in ones own heart and the evil that comes to us from outside. We call it traditionally the Devil or demons.6 The so-called prayer of exorcism does not say a word about diabolic possession, but speaks instead of evil ideas which torment the spirit of the human person.

    The introduction to the draft of 98, accepted by the German

    0 Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 8; see also Richter, Liturgie zur Befreiung, 06. The third imperative exorcism is the nearest to the previous text of the old ritual: see the analysis of the six exorcistic formulae of Ex 999 in Ferrara, Il nuovo Rituale degli esorcismi, 4-.

    Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 9; see Richter, Liturgie zur Befreiung, 0.

    Emil Lengeling, Der Exorzismus der katholischen Kirche: zu einer verwunderlichen Ausgabe, Liturgisches Jahrbuch (98) 49-5, here 56-5.

    See Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 48-6; Richter, Liturgie zur Befreiung, 99-0. Richter lists the members of this commission on p. 00.

    4 Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 5.5 Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 6-80.6 Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 68. Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, .

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • Bishops Conference in autumn 984, has recently been published.8 The commission summarized its work in four points:9

    ) The doctrine of the Church about the existence of demonic powers is de fide, but it must be reconstructed and formulated in a new way.

    ) The possibility of possession is not excluded, but there are no criteria to recognize it clearly.0 There are objections against the manner in which the Rituale Romanum of 64 describes the recognition of possession and the exorcism. These objections also stem from the imperative form (that is, the order given to the demons) because it is correlated to anthropomorphic ideas about demons.

    ) The commission does not simply eliminate the rite of major exorcism, but substitutes it with a liturgy for the liberation from evil.

    4) The draft for this liturgy and the praenotanda should be sent to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. If the rite should be incorporated into the new Benedictionale, it ought to be accompanied by a pastoral aid which still has to be elaborated.

    The principal theological problem with this proposal is its ambiguity concerning the existence of evil spirits. The commission purports to guard the Churchs belief in the existence of demonic powers, but these powers seem to be interpreted here in an impersonal way. The main test for this new interpretation lies in the elimination of exorcism

    8 The Introduction is cited completely by Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 64-4. See also the summary in Reiner Kaczynski, Der Exorzismus, in Sakramentliche Feiern II, ed. Bruno Kleinheyer, Emmanuel von Severus, and Reiner Kaczynski, Gottesdienst der Kirche 8 (Regensburg: Pustet, 984) 5-9, here 90-9; Franz Reckinger, In meinem Namen werden sie Dmonen austreiben: zur Reform des Exorzismus, Forum Katholische Theologie 5 (989) -45, here 8. The integral text of the exorcism itself has not been published, but enters into the proposal of Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 48-6.

    9 See Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 60-6.0 See Introduction 4, by Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie:

    Da es keine eindeutigen theologischen Kriterien fr die Besessenheit gibt.... (As there are no unequivocal criteria for possession....). The text closely resembles the exposition of Walter Kasper, Das theologische Problem des Bsen, in Teufel Dmonen Besessenheit: zur Wirklichkeit des Bsen, ed. Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann (Mainz: Grnewald, 98) 4-69, esp. 66-69.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

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    understood as a command addressed to demons to leave the possessed person. Even the word exorcism is substituted by the formulation liturgy for liberation from evil.

    Another problem, evident in the points already cited above, is the abandonment of any significant criteria for discerning a case of possession from psychiatric or parapsychological phenomena. The praenotanda hold that the power of evil does not manifest itself be-yond the concomitant causality of natural causes and that it is not possible to individuate specific signs of sickness or other phenomena that prove by themselves a state of being overwhelmed by the power of evil. For this reason, formulated by Karl Rahner, Probst and Richter propose to integrate the rite of exorcism into the ritual for administering the sacraments of the sick.

    Reiner Kaczynski, a German liturgist who had worked for some years in the CDW, published in 984 a chapter about exorcism in a well-known liturgical handbook. He wrote that the proposal of the German commis-sion had been sent to the corresponding Roman Congregation:

    At Rome, this work has been noted with satisfaction. There is already a first draft for the praenotanda of the Prayer for liberation of someone overwhelmed by the power of evil. Corresponding to the title, certainly there will be no more imperative exorcisms. Even the word exorcism does not appear.4

    Kaczynski calls the formula used in the draft a prayer for libera-tion.5

    Praenotanda 5, in Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 66. Karl Rahner, Besessenheit und Exorzismus, Stimmen der Zeit 94

    (96) -, here : Wie wir heute auch als orthodoxe Glubige ohne Hexen auskommen, so knnte man in der Praxis auch ohne Besessenheit auskommen. Selbst wenn man einen Einflu solcher bsen Mchte und Gewalten als denkbar annimmt, wre dieser uns empirisch gegeben in dem, was wir schlicht Krankheit nennen und unter diesen Voraussetzungen durchaus mit irdischen Mitteln bekmpfen knnen.

    Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 4; Klemens Richter, review of Kaczynski, Der Exorzismus, in Theologische Revue 84 (988) 4-, esp. 6-. See also Gianni Cavagnoli, I Praenotanda del De exorcismis, in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, -0, here 99-0.

    4 Kaczynski, Der Exorzismus, 90: In Rom ist diese Arbeit mit Befriedigung zur Kenntnis genommen worden. Ein erster Entwurf fr die Vorbemerkungen zum Gebet um Befreiung eines von der Macht des Bsen berwltigten liegt bereits vor. Entsprechend dem Titel wird es mit Sicherheit keine imprekatorischen Exorzismen mehr geben. Das Wort Exorzismus fllt berhaupt nicht mehr.

    5 Kaczynski, Der Exorzismus, 90. A similar development took place

    MANFRED HAUKE

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    The Main Points of Theological DebateThe new rite published in 999, however, uses the word exorcism in the title, contains imperative exorcisms and re-proposes the tra-ditional criteria for the discernment of demonic possession. For this reason, we shall briefly study, first, the theological question about the existence of evil spirits and, second, the possibility and discernment of possession. We shall take into consideration also the ample discus-sion about the tragic case of Klingenberg, where in 96 an exorcized girl died from malnutrition. This case, and its slanted treatment not only by the mass media but also by the ecclesiastical establishment, influenced the proposals of the previously mentioned commission to disastrous effect.

    We have to clarify, then, the term exorcism. In 985, the Con-gregation for the Doctrine of the Faith admonished groups engaged in the liberation of possessed persons to distinguish clearly between the orders given to the demons, which are reserved to the priests called by the bishop to undertake the exorcists task, and prayers for liberation.6 Here the imperative form is the determinative sign for liturgical exorcism. The new exorcism rite of 999, strangely, does not compel the exorcist to use any imperative exorcism. It is possible to use only a so-called supplicating exorcism (exorcismus deprecativus) in which God is supplicated to liberate the possessed person. Sev-eral important questions therefore arise: Is this invocative text a real exorcism? Or is it only a prayer for liberation that could be used in a similar way by any Christian? Is the possibility of avoiding any form of imperative exorcism a compromise with the liberal current of theology?

    Another problem is the discernment between possession and other forms of demonic influence. The most frequent cases in which

    in France where, unlike Germany, there is a certain number of exorcists, but many of these priests do not believe in the reality of diabolic possession and do not practice exorcism. This fact is clear in Isidore Froc, ed., Exorcistes (Paris: Plon/Mame, 996) esp. , 56-58, 60-69, 8, and , translated as Esorcisti e mistero del male (Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San Paolo, 000). See also Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective, 5; idem, Exorzisten und Psychiater, trans. Reinhold Ortner (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 00) 9-44.

    6 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Epistula ordinariis locorum missa: in mentem normae vigentes de exorcismi revocantur, Acta Apostolicae Sedis (985) 69-0. The distinction was prepared by Cardinal Lon-Joseph Suenens, Erneuerung und die Mchte der Finsternis (Salzburg: Otto Mller, 98) 6, p. 09; the original French edition is Renouveau et puissances des tnbres (Malines, 98).

    See Ex 004 8.

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    exorcists are engaged are not possessions but various forms of ex-traordinary diabolic action, for instance in the case of bewitchment and the consequences of spiritualist or satanic practice.8 We find an allusion to these infestations in the first appendix of the new rite. The texts are taken, for the most part, from the exorcism introduced by Leo xIII (pope from 88 to 90) and later incorporated into the 95 edition of the Rituale Romanum.9 They can be adopted (a) when the demonic influence manifests itself in some way in things and places, but also (b) in aggression against or persecution of the Church.40 This point is not explained in the praenotanda where we find, in the first edition of 999, some expressions that could be read in support of the thesis that all these things are only superstition. For example, the exorcist should distinguish in a right way the case of a diabolic intervention from that credulity (ab illa credulitate) by which some people, even believers, think that they are the object of an evil spell, of bad luck or of a malediction (obiectum maleficii, malae sortis vel maledictionis). Here the exorcist must not employ an exorcism.4 In the edition of 004, the words ab illa credulitate have been changed to a falsa opinione.4 This change seems to envisage the erroneous at-tribution of demonic influence without excluding the possibility of bewitchment and malediction, realities abundantly present in the experience of many exorcists.

    A Rite Created by Exorcistic Illiterates?The detail just mentioned, which could easily be more completely elaborated in many points, would suggest that insufficient account was taken of the experience of exorcists when the new ritual was being developed. The new rite of exorcism consequently has drawn many criticisms, most notably from the Roman exorcist Gabriele Amorth. In an interview with 30 Days in the year 000, Amorth comments on the membership of the commissions responsible for the revised rite:

    8 See Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective. 9 See Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 6; Nanni, Il dito di

    Dio, 4-6. For the origin of the exorcismus Leonis, see Amorth, Un esorcista racconta, 5-8.

    40 Appendix I, Supplicatio et exorcismus qui adhiberi possunt in peculiaribus adiunctis ecclesiae, in Ex 004, p. : Diaboli et aliorum daemoniorum praesentia apparet atque exstat non solum in personis tentandis vel vexandis, sed etiam in rebus et locis quodammodo propria actione penetrandis atque in variis formis oppositionis et persecutionis Ecclesiae.

    4 Praenotanda, in Ex 004 5. 4 See Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 45.

    MANFRED HAUKE

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    During these last ten years, two commissions worked on the Ritual; one which was made up of cardinals and which was responsible for the Praenotanda and the other which was responsible for the prayers. I can affirm with certainty that none of the members of these commissions had ever performed an exorcism, had ever been present at an exorcism and ever possessed the slightest idea of what an exorcism is. Here lies the error, the original sin of this Ritual. Not one of those who collaborated on it was an exorcism specialist.4

    Amorth even holds that the new rite is a blunt weapon. Efficacious prayers, prayers that had been in existence for twelve centuries, were suppressed and replaced by new ineffective prayers.44

    Amorth, here, does not criticize the work of Cardinal Medina. The revision of the ritual of exorcism began in 989.45 Already in 990 a draft was sent to episcopal conferences throughout the Church, that is, six years before the Medina years. In 990, the prefect of the CDW was Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo.46 Amorth mentions that only Medina had some experience with exorcism, whereas the other commission members were complete illiterates concerning exor-cisms; they never practiced them nor had they even seen them.4 The Roman exorcist also mentions that Cardinals Medina and Ratzinger resorted to a maneuver in extremis, introducing into the liturgical book an article authorizing exorcists to use the previous Rituale Ro-manum. This attempt failed, but on the day after the presentation of the new ritual, Medina published a notification to the effect that every bishop could ask the CDW for permission to use the old ritual, adding that this permission would be given willingly (libenter).48

    The permission to use the old rite, in any case, is indicative at least of some practical problems. Let us draw an analogy between exorcism and swimming: imagine that some people allege that water does not exist and that for this reason it is impossible to swim. For them, evidently, it does not make sense to write a book about swim-ming. This case corresponds to the theologians who want to revise

    4 Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective.44 Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective. 45 Medina Estvez, Il rito degli esorcismi: Il lavoro costato dieci

    anni. See also note 9 above. 46 Somalos role is mentioned by Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism

    is Ineffective.4 Amorth, Letter cited in Gemma, Io, vescovo esorcista, 68. 48 Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective; Achille M.

    Triacca, Esorcismo, in Liturgia, . See Medina Estvez, Notificatio de ritu Exorcismi, Prot. n. 80/98/L ( Jan 999), Notitiae 5.-4 (999) 56.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

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    the faith of the Church about diabolic possession. Another example presents itself: imagine somebody writing a manual about swimming, but without ever having swum and without consulting experienced swimmers. The cure of exorcism is similar: the greater problem is that of the rejection of faith which also includes the existence of Satan and demons; the other problem is a glaring lack of practical experience which could prove disastrous. I myself must confess to having no practical familiarity with major exorcism, but at least I try to learn from the rich experience of exorcists an experience far too overlooked in the last few decades.

    II. the exIstence of satan and other evIl spIrItsThe praenotanda of the new ritual are preceded by a prooemium that places the existence of the Devil and of demons within the context of the whole of the Christian faith.49

    In the whole history of salvation there are angelic creatures. A part of them serves the divine plan, always giving hidden and potent aid to the Church. Another part is fallen and is called diabolic; they oppose the salvific will of God and the redemptive work of Christ, and also try to associate man with their rebellion against God.50

    Some of the actual phrases are drawn from The Catechism of the Catholic Church,5 which cites, among the documents of the Magisterium, the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council (5), where the existence of angelic creatures and the fall of the angels constitute part of the profession of faith.5 The council rejected the neo-Manichaeism of Catharism, which taught a metaphysical dualism according to which an evil principle exists from eternity. The profession of faith accen-tuates the fact that the evil spirits were created as good angels, but fell through their own fault. Nevertheless, the existence of the Devil and of the other fallen angels is an intrinsic part of the conciliar af-firmations, sustained by the ordinary Magisterium the Church for 000 years. For this reason, Cardinal Medina could respond with the necessary clarity to a journalist in the Vatican Press Hall: We know there are Catholics who have not received good formation and doubt the existence of the Devil, but this is an article of faith and part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Whoever says the Devil does

    49 Ex 004, pp. 5-6. Cf. Triacca, Esorcismo, in Liturgia, .50 Ex 004, p. 5. 5 Catechismus catholicae ecclesiae, nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice

    Vaticana, 99) [henceforth CCE] , 9, 44, 85. 5 CCE 9.

    MANFRED HAUKE

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    not exist is no longer a believer.5 The Catechism, explicitly quoted in the prooemium, mentions also

    the Lords Prayer, which is certainly the best summary of the teach-ing of Jesus Christ. The supplication but deliver us from evil does not express evil as an abstraction, but as a person: Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God.54 A biblical investigation confirms that evil implies a diabolic influence.55

    The following section of the prooemium gives more references about the role of the Devil and of the demons, as opposed to the salvific mission of Jesus Christ. It is not the task of a liturgical foreword to give a scientific presentation, but the passages from the New Testa-ment are certainly sufficient evidence that the messianic work of the Savior implies victory over evil spirits. This fact is accentuated, for instance, by a programmatic article by Joseph Ratzinger against the work of a Swiss exegete who dismissed the existence of Satan as a mythological concept now lain to rest by scientific progress:

    The spiritual battle against the enslaving forces, the exorcism over a world blinded by demons, is an inseparable part of the spiritual way of Jesus and of his disciples. The figure of Jesus, his spiritual physiognomy, does not change if the sun revolves round the earth or if the earth moves around the sun, if the world evolved or not, but it is changed decisively if the struggle with the experienced force of the demonic reign is cut off.56

    From a systematic point of view, it is important to stress the

    5 Medina Estvez, Prefect on the New Rite. For an historical and systematic presentation of the doctrine of the Church, see Corrado Balducci, Il diavolo (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 988); Giorgio Gozzelino, Il mistero delluomo in Cristo: saggio di protologia (Turin: Leumann, 99); idem, Angeli e demoni: Linvisibile creato e la vicenda umana (Milan: San Paolo, 000); Benito Marconcini, ed., Angeli e demoni: Il dramma della storia tra il bene e il male (Bologna: Dehoniane, 99); Renzo Lavatori, Satana un caso serio (Bologna: Dehoniane, 996); idem, Il diavolo tra fede e ragione (Bologna: Dehoniane, 000); Leo Scheffczyk, Schpfung als Heilserffnung: Schpfungslehre, Katholische Dogmatik (Aachen: MM Verlag, 99) 49-.

    54 CCE 85: In hac petitione, Malum abstractio quaedam non est, sed personam designat, Satan, Malignum, angelum qui Deo opponitur.

    55 See, for instance, Heinz Schrmann, Das Gebet des Herrn, 4th ed. (Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 98) -.

    56 Joseph Ratzinger, Abschied vom Teufel? in Dogma und Verkndigung, rd ed. (Munich: Wewel, 9) -0, here . Ratzinger is writing against Herbert Haag, Abschied vom Teufel (Einsiedeln: Benziger, 969), 8th ed. (Zrich: Benziger, 990). On Haags publications, see Bernd J. Claret, Geheimnis des Bsen: Zur Diskussion um den Teufel (Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 99) 84-0.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 44

    specificity of Jesus in his historical context.5 With the Pharisees and the majority of the Jewish people, our Lord shares a conviction con-cerning the existence of Satan and of demons, whereas the Sadducees do not even believe in the existence of angels. The negation of the angelic world is not a trait only of the modern world. When rabbinic literature speaks about demons, only rarely does it link them with Satan; rather, they are seen as autonomous spirits that can cause harm.58 In the presentation given by Jesus, the demons are clearly evil spirits under the leadership of Satan, opposed to the reign of God (Mk :0-; Mt :-0; Lk :4-).

    The third and last section of the prooemium, citing the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, refers to the victory of Christ over the Devil and demons, but also to the struggle that continues over the whole course of history.59 As to diabolic influence, we should note the specification of the prooemium that the harmful action of the Devil and of demons afflicts persons, things, places and appears in different ways. The Church has prayed and prays that people be liberated from the persecutions of the Devil.60 The different ways imply temptation, often called the ordinary way of demonic influence, but also the extraordinary manner of possession and other harms which also concern things and places relative to man.6

    III. possIbIlIty and dIscernment of possessIonThe Phenomenon of Possession in the New TestamentThe praenotanda of the new rite of exorcism consist of six parts: (I) the victory of Christ and the power of the Church against demons; (II) exorcism within the sanctifying mission of the Church; (III) min-ister and conditions for using the major exorcism; (IV) the ritual to be used; (V) complements and adaptations; (VI) adaptations for the competence of the episcopal conferences.6 In the first three parts,

    5 See Willem Cornelis Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene: Die Dmonen in Geschichte und Gegenwart und ihre Austreibung (Aschaffenburg: Pattloch, 90) 0-; Marconcini, I demoni: la testimonianza della Sacra Scrittura, in Angeli e demoni: Il dramma, 0-9; Lavatori, Satana, 65-8; Scheffczyk, Schpfung als Heilserffnung, 59-6.

    58 See Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, . 59 Ex 004, pp. 5-6; cf. Gaudium et spes , , in Decrees of the Ecumenical

    Councils, ed. and trans. Tanner, vol. , pp. 08-8, 09. 60 Ex 004, p. 6.6 See, for instance, Moreno Fiori, Riflessione su Satana e sulla sua

    azione, in Angeli e demoni: Il dramma, 9-99, here 6; Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste, 5.

    6 Ex 004 -8.

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 45

    especially, we find the systematic presuppositions for our theological investigation.

    The reality of demonic possession is clear from human experience throughout the centuries, from the exorcisms practiced by Jesus Christ himself, and from the command of the Lord to his disciples. The praeno-tanda develop the doctrine, already shortly presented in the prooemium, of the angelic fall ( ). As a consequence of original sin, mankind fell under the dominion of the Devil ( ). The redemptive work of Christ implies victory over Satan ( -5). Here the praenotanda hint at the exorcisms of the Lord ( 4). To continue his ministry, Christ gave his apostles and the other disciples the power to expel impure spirits (cf. Mt 0:-8; Mk :4-5; 6:.; Lk 9:; 0:-0). Among the signs which follow believers in the Gospel is mentioned the expulsion of demons (cf. Mk 6:) ( 6). According to these biblical references, exorcisms belong to the specific tasks which the Lord entrusted to his disciples. The first part of the praenotanda concludes by adverting to the practice of the Church, entrusted by Jesus since apostolic times with the task of exorcizing demons ( ).

    The praenotanda subsequently repeat the traditional criteria to discern cases of possession ( 6), but do not describe the phenom-enology of such cases. It is useful to look at the biblical description, analyzed in a brilliant way by Willem Cornelis Van Dam, a Protestant theologian from the Netherlands.6 The most detailed description of an exorcism occurs in the pericopes concerning the possessed man in the region of the Gerasenes (alternately given as Gergesenes or Gadarenes; Mk 5:-0, cf. Mt 8:8-4 and Lk 8:6-9). Here we find together in a single account all the traits present in the Gospels. Van Dam provides a list of nine points:

    () strong resistance against all divine influences,() extraordinary physical strength,() disturbances in the organic functions,(4) another person speaking out of the possessed person,(5) self-inflicted wounds and attempts at suicide,(6) aggressive and unquiet behavior, a furious excitation,() elevated perception with knowledge beyond natural power,(8) extraordinary phenomena when the demon is expelled (cramps,

    cries, falling to the ground),(9) exhaustion, but perfect healing after the expulsion64

    6 Van Dam discusses the New Testament evidence in Dmonen und Besessene, 0-, and the criteria for possession in -64.

    64 Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, , with biblical references.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 46

    Van Dam divides these nine phenomena into four groups: religious (trait , aversion to the sacred); corporal (traits -4); psychological (traits 5-6); and parapsychological (trait ).65 From this description we can begin to discuss the difference between diabolic possession and merely psychic disturbances or parapsychological traits.

    The Klingenberg CaseThe necessity of correct discernment can be more clearly shown by reference to the tragic event that happened at Klingenberg, in the diocese of Wrzburg (Bavaria).66 On July 96, a twenty-three-year-old female student was found dead in her bed. She had refused to eat and weighed only kilograms. Previously, a number of exorcisms had been performed on her. For this reason, the district attorney brought charges against the parents and the two exorcists. The case occupied the mass media for two years, until the tribunal passed sentence in 98. The accused were condemned to six months in prison with a suspended sentence of three years. In his summation, the judge said: Anneliese Michel was not possessed. Since the first of May 96 she was psychologically disturbed.6 The guilt of the accused consisted, according to the judge, in not having called a doctor for forced feed-ing. With very few exceptions, the German Church accepted this sentence as though it were an infallible intervention of the supreme Magisterium. A year after the judgment of the tribunal, the German episcopal conference instituted the commission whose results have already been summarized.

    The first scientific study that tried to incorporate all the accessible material about the case of Klingenberg was written by a Protestant American anthropologist, Felicitas D. Goodman, whose mother is of German-speaking origin.68 Goodman conducted interviews with the

    65 Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, . 66 The film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, written by Paul Harris Boardman

    and Scott Derrickson, directed by Scott Derrickson (Sony Pictures, 005), is loosely based upon the case of Klingenberg.

    6 Jean-Marie Faerber, Klingenberg, in Von Wemding nach Klingenberg: vier weltberhmte Flle von Teufelsaustreibungen, ed. Georg Siegmund (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 985) 9-6, here 9.

    68 Felicitas D. Goodman, ed., Anneliese Michel und ihre Dmonen: der Fall Klingenberg in wissenschaftlicher Sicht (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 980, 4th revised and enlarged edition, 004); the English version is The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel (New York: Doubleday, 98); idem, How about Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 988) 4-. See also Adolf Rodewyk, Possessed by Satan, The New York Times (8 August 96) -0, cited in Leimgruber, Kein Abschied vom Teufel, 5; Manfred Adler et al., Tod und Teufel

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 4

    persons involved, read the protocols of the tribunal, and studied the tapes of the exorcism sessions. According to her reconstruction of the case, the demonic troubles began in 968, when Anneliese was sixteen years old and committed to a sanatorium. She complained that she continuously saw the faces of demons. For this reason, she consulted a number of psychiatrists. Her situation deteriorated in 9. A doctor diagnosed something like epilepsy and prescribed accordingly. The young woman, alas, did not manifest the symptoms typical of epilepsy: she could drive a car or use the swimming pool without any difficulty. She was put on a medication called Tegretal, prescribed for her without any subsequent checks, over the course of three years, from 9 to 96. The exorcisms began only in the summer of 95. One of the collateral effects of Tegretal is the loss of appetite. Normally, the blood should have been checked regularly, but this was not done. Neither ought such dangerous drugs be admin-istered to a young woman. According to Goodman, the death of the girl came from an irreversible poisoning by Tegretal. This conclusion is shared by various doctors. One of them, the Swiss scholar Theo Weber-Arm, noted that, in 9, it was already acknowledged that Tegretal was responsible for several other deaths. Normally, the doc-tors who had prescribed the drug, not the exorcists, should have been prosecuted.69 Goodman, though, is convinced that Anneliese Michel really was possessed by evil spirits. The same conclusion was reached by, among others, the Swiss psychiatrist Hans Naegeli-Osjord. Like Goodman, he is not a Catholic, but a Protestant with some syncre-

    in Klingenberg: eine Dokumentation (Aschaffenburg: Pattloch, 9); Georg Siegmund, Nachtrag und Ergnzung, in Dmonologie, vols, ed. Egon von Petersdorff, nd ed. (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 98) vol. , 80-45, here 405-408; Johannes Mischo and Ulrich Niemann, Die Besessenheit der Anneliese Michel in interdisziplinrer Sicht, Zeitschrift fr Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie 5 (98) 9-94; against this, see Elisabeth Becker, Exorzismus, in Goodman, Anneliese Michel, 8-4; Faerber, Klingenberg; Ernst Alt, Aussagen der Dmonen im Fall Klingenberg, in Treibt Dmonen aus! ed. Lisl Gutwenger (Stein am Rhein: Christiana, 99) 5-45 [Ernst Alt was one of the exorcists]; Johannes Mischo, 0 Jahre nach Klingenberg, in Dmonen unter uns: Exorzismus heute, ed. Joachim Mller (Fribourg, Switzerland: Paulusverlag, 99) 9- [the author is a parapsychologist who interprets possession as the personification of psychic forces]; Uwe Wolff, Das Bricht dem Bischof das Kreuz: die letzte Teufelsaustreibung in Deutschland 1975/76 (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 999); against this work, see Arnold Guillet, Es nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf: Besessenheit, Die Tagespost ( Sept 999) 6; Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 5-55; Leimgruber, Kein Abschied vom Teufel, 5-64 [this author excludes the possibility of demonic interventions].

    69 Faerber, Klingenberg, .

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 48

    tistic leanings.0 It might even be the case that the investigation of Goodman, together with other studies, has influenced in some way the diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association, which accepts the possibility of possession.

    The critical observations about the sentence of the German court, in large part from non-Catholic experts in the human sciences, came too late to influence the opinion makers of the mass media in Ger-many. For the theologians, the most typical reaction was the opinion of Karl Rahner, who suggested suppressing the ritual of exorcism because demonic possession allegedly does not exist. It comes as no surprise that the German Bishops Conference, guided by Karl Lehmann, a pupil of Rahner, wrote a letter to Cardinal Ratzinger declaring that there was no need to create a new Ritual because exorcisms should no longer be performed.

    The Discernment of Diabolic Possession According to the Rituale Romanum (1614; 1999)4

    The term possession is applicable when a body is occupied by an evil spirit with the result that the demon disposes of the human body as if it were its own.5 Possession manifests itself during a crisis, a kind of trance, when the spirits intervene. During the crisis, the con-scious action of the possessed person typically is cut off. The Rituale

    0 Hans Naegeli-Osjord, Besessenheit und Exorzismus (Remagen: Otto Reichl, 98) 55-68.

    American Psychiatric Association, ed., Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (Washington: APA, 994) [henceforth DSM-IV] 490, -9, and 849. Other voices in this sense are cited by Peter Zimmerling, Die charismatischen Bewegungen (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht, 00) 8; Amorth, Exorzisten und Psychiater, 99-; Morgan Scott Peck, Glimpses at the Devil: A Psychiatrists Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption (New York: Free Press, 005).

    Karl Rahner, Besessenheit und Exorzismus, in Tod und Teufel in Klingenberg: eine Dokumentation (Aschaffenburg: Pattloch, 9) 44-46, here 45, also found in Rahner Besessenheit und Exorzismus, . Although Rahner did not formally deny the existence of diabolic possession, he seriously questioned it. If it exists, he maintained, it would be present within sickness and must be combated by modern remedies.

    Amorth, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective. For Karl Lehmanns position, see Der Teufel ein personales Wesen? in Teufel Dmonen Besessenheit, -98, esp. -.

    4 See Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 4-90.5 See Adolf Rodewyk, Dmonische Besessenheit heute, nd ed.

    (Aschaffenburg: Pattloch, 90) 0, translated into Italian as Possessione diabolica oggi (Udine: Segno, 99); Corrado Balducci, La possessione diabolica (Rome: Edizioni Mediterranee, 988) 99.

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 49

    Romanum of 64 first warns against concluding too readily that a direct intervention of the Devil has taken place. Possession must not be confused with melancholy, a somber mood, or some sickness.6 Then the document enumerates three criteria to discern a case of diabolic possession: () speaking or understanding a language which is not known by the possessed person; it may happen likewise that the person may utter multiple words simultaneously; () manifesting distant or secret realities; () showing powers that go beyond the age or natural condition of the person possessed. These three points do not constitute a complete criteriology, because the text adds that there are other signs of this kind; the signs assume a greater importance, however, when they appear together. Individual signs, taken by them-selves, are only indicators (indicia). This fact, already acknowledged in the text of 64, was underscored once more in the edition of 95. Whereas the original version says that the three criteria are signs of possession, the 95 edition states that they can be such signs.8 Is it true, then, that there are no certain criteria for possession, as the German commission concluded in 984?

    In the immediate context of the Rituale Romanum, it is evident that a fourth criterion must be added: reaction to exorcism and to sacred realities, for instance the sprinkling of holy water.9 According to the experience of exorcists, the diagnostic exorcism, that is, the exorcism used as a test, leads to moral certainty about a given case

    6 Norm , in Rituale Romanum editio princeps (1614), ed. Manlio Sodi et al., Monumenta Liturgica Concilii Tridentini 5 (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 004) [henceforth RR 64] 86, p. 06 (original p. 98) [the norms were assigned numbers only in 5, during the pontificate of Benedict xIV, but those numbers are used here for convenience]: In primis, ne facile credat, aliquem a daemone obsessum esse; sed nota habeat ea signa, quibus obsessus dignoscitur ab iis, qui vel atra bile, vel morbo aliquo laborant. See Patrick Dondelinger-Mandy, Le rituel des exorcismes dans le Rituale Romanum de 64, La Maison-Dieu 8/84 (990) 99-, esp. 99, note . For the last typical edition of the old Ritual, see Anthony Ward and Cuthbert Johnson (eds), Rituale Romanum: editio prima post typicam anno 1953 promulgata, Bibliotheca Ephemerides Liturgicae Subsidia, Instrumenta Liturgica Quarreriensia Supplementa 6 (Rome: C.L.V.-Edizione Liturgiche, 00). An English translation of this text can be found on .

    Norm , in RR 64 86: Signa autem obsidentis daemonis sunt. Ignota lingua loqui pluribus verbis, vel loquentem intelligere: distantia, & occulta patefacere: vires supra aetatis, seu conditionis naturam ostendere; & id genus alia, quae cum plurima concurrunt, maiora sunt indicia.

    8 See Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 0. 9 Norms 4, , 6, , in RR 64 86, 8, 85, 86.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 50

    of possession.80 This kind of exorcism is not a liturgical act and can be expressed mentally, without mentioning this fact to the person suspected of being possessed.8 The paranormal phenomena, like speaking unknown languages or knowing secret things, normally start only during the crisis provoked by exorcism. The use of diagnostic exorcism is indispensable in determining whether a person is pos-sessed or not. According to Adolf Rodewyk, a renowned authority on exorcisms, evil spirits must manifest themselves in words or actions when the exorcist, in the name of Christ, commands them to leave the troubled person: Here we find the decisive accent to discern posses-sion and not in the great theater of extraordinary parapsychological phenomena, even if these are for the moment very impressive.8 Nevertheless, the Rituale Romanum of 64 and its sources reckon also with the possibility that demons, for some time, can hide themselves from the interventions of the exorcist.8

    The new rite of exorcism essentially restates the same four criteria established by the Rituale of 64, and even uses in large part the same words.84 The praenotanda, however, do not reflect the importance of diagnostic exorcism, when moral certainty is required about the state of possession before celebrating the exorcism.85 This norm had

    80 See Rodewyk, Dmonische Besessenheit heute, , -6; Amorth, Un esorcista racconta, p. 44; idem, The New Rite of Exorcism is Ineffective; Jos Antonio Fortea, Summa daemoniaca: tratado de Demonologa y Manual de Exorcistas (Benasque [Huesca, Spain]: Editorial Dos Latidos, 004) 9; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 55, 89.

    8 See Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 89. It could be prayed by any believer, at least as an invocation directed to God. On this, see Reckinger In meinem Namen, 9-45.

    8 Rodewyk, Dmonische Besessenheit heute, . Another accent is given by Franois Dermine, Il discernimento degli spiriti, in Esorcismo e preghiera di liberazione, 8-08, here 90: according to Dermine, the imperative exorcism is necessary for discernment in some cases, but normally a prayer for liberation would be sufficient.

    8 See norm 5, in RR 64 865; see Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 5. 84 Praenotanda, in Ex 004 6: Secundum probatam praxim, ut

    signa obsidentis daemonis habentur: ignoto sermone pluribus verbis loqui vel loquentem intellegere; distantia et occulta patefacere; vires supra aetatis seu condicionis naturam ostendere. Quae signa indicium quoddam praebere possunt. Cum autem signa huiusmodi non necessario reputanda sint ex parte diaboli provenientia, attendere etiam oportet ad alia, praesertim ordinis moralis et spiritalis, quae alio modo interventum diabolicum manifestant, ut, v. g., aversionem vehementem a Deo, Sanctissimo Nomine Iesu, Beata Virgine Maria et Sanctis, et imaginibus sacris.

    85 Praenotanda, in Ex 004 6: Exorcista ad exorcismum celebrandum ne procedat, nisi compererit, morali certitudine fretus,

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 5

    been introduced by Benedict xIV in 4586 and was reiterated in the 9 Code of Canon Law.8 According to this context, the celebra-tion of exorcism means the liturgical form present in the ritual, but it does not seem to exclude the discreet use of a diagnostic exorcism.88 Otherwise it would be much more difficult to verify demonic pos-session. In any case, this point should be clarified by the CDW, in a future revision of the praenotanda or at least in a separate pastoral directory for exorcists.

    The Difference between Possession and Mental Illness89

    It is important not to confuse possession with some kind of mental illness. It is significant that although the introduction to the 64 rite had stressed this discernment, the praenotanda of the revised rite were written at a time marked by a much greater scientific awareness of the various kinds of psychological pathologies. Before proceeding to the exorcism, the exorcist should consult if necessary, experts in the medical and psychiatric sciences who have a sense of spiritual

    exorcizandum esse revera a daemone obsessum . Giampietro, Il rinnovamento del rito, , even sustains: sono escluse alcune prassi inconvenienti, quale luso dellesorcismo per verificarne la necessit.

    86 Epistula Sollicitudini ( Oct 45) 4, as cited in Codex iuris canonici 9 (Vatican City: Polyglot Press, 94) [henceforth CIC 9] n. , pp. 85-86. See Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 5.

    8 CIC 9, can. 5 : ad exorcismos ne procedat, nisi postquam diligenti prudentique investigatione compererit exorcizandum esse revera a daemone obsessum. The footnote to the CIC 9 refers here not only to the document of Benedict xIV, but also to the Rituale Romanum, tit. x, c. , and .

    88 Another interpretation of the juridical question is given by Nanni in Il dito di Dio, 56 and 98. Nanni posits that according to the new rite even the diagnostic exorcism is prohibited, a precept that for him raises some questions: Se ne conclude che per lattuale Rito, contrariamente alle fonti, lesorcismo come strumento diagnostico proibito. Rimane aperto linterrogativo, quale sia la ragione di tale proibizione.

    89 See Corrado Balducci, Gli indemoniati (Rome: Coletti, 959) -0; idem, Possessione diabolica; Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, 9-; Thomas Glantz, Besessenheitsphnomene und psychisch-physische Erkrankungen, in Dmonen unter uns, 4-55; Amorth, Exorzisten und Psychiater, 00-; Vincenzo Mastronardi et al., Possessione demoniaca e psicopatologie, in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, -54; Costantino Gilardi, Quando esorcizzare? in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, -5; Marco Tosatti, Inchiesta sul demonio (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 00) 5-45; Fortea, Summa daemoniaca, 0-5; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 8-88; Tonino Cantelmi, Aspetti psicologici, in Esorcismo e preghiera di liberazione, 69-95.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 5

    realities.90 The condition of having a sense of spiritual realities is important, because the mainstream of contemporary psychiatry is not disposed to accept the possibility of demonic possession, even if recently there is a greater openness to such, as is clear from the DSM-IV, the psychiatric handbook already mentioned.9 It is not necessary that the medical or psychiatric experts be faithful Christians, but they should be open to an explanation that goes beyond psychic causes.

    In antiquity, epilepsy was often interpreted as possession because in this condition crises occur, when the sick person manifests an ex-traordinary strength and may even foam at the mouth. The biblical figure sometimes called the epileptic demoniac (Mk 9:4-9), in any case, was not an epileptic. In the event of an epileptic attack, the patient stays where he falls, but is not driven into the fire or into the water (Mk 9:). An epileptic attack is short, but the crises of a demoniac can last several hours. Medication can help in the case of epilepsy, but it is futile against possession.9

    It is not true, as some theologians have maintained, that the New Testament identifies demonic possession with sickness,9 presupposing that every sickness is caused by a demon.94 Satan too can cause dis-eases (see Lk :-), but the evangelical accounts of the activity of Jesus differentiate between ill persons and demoniacs.95 For instance, in Mark :4, Jesus healed great numbers of the sick that evening and ordered many demons to come out of their victims. Whereas the demons in possessed persons manifested a strong resistance against Jesus and were cast off, none of these demonic traits were evident in those who were ill.96 In the second century, the apologist Tatian

    90 Praenotanda, in Ex 004 : De necessitate adhibendi ritum exorcismi, exorzista prudenter iudicabit post diligentem inquisitionem, consultis expertis quatenus opus sit, in scientia medicinae et psychiatriae, qui sensum habeant rerum spiritualium.

    9 See note above. 9 See Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, 8-85. 9 For example, Alexandre Ganoczy, Schpfungslehre, in

    Glaubenszugnge I, ed. Wolfgang Beinert, (Paderborn: Schningh, 995) 65-495, here 48.

    94 Specialists of the New Testament sometimes also assume, without the necessary proof, that every sickness, according to ancient thinking, was caused by demons. See, for example, Joachim Gnilka, Jesus von Nazaret (Freiburg/Bresgau: Herder, 990) 5.

    95 For instance, sick people were brought to him, and the touch of his hands healed every one. Some were possessed by demons; and the demons came out at his command (Lk 4:40-4); see Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, .

    96 Gozzelino, Il mistero delluomo, 54; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, , 0-8.

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 5

    maintained an explicit differentiation between diseases provoked by demons or coming from a natural origin.9

    It is not possible to review here the principal kinds of psychiatric illness. For discernment, in any case, it is important to bring together the sensitive aversion to the sacred with the paranormal faculties which are not specific, for instance, for hysteric or schizophrenic diseases. Psychiatric illness and possession cannot be identified as interchangeable terms, but it is possible, and it sometimes happens, that the two phenomena actually coincide. In these cases, collabora-tion with a psychiatric specialist is especially important.

    Possession and ParapsychologyThe opinion of the German commission that there are no certain cri-teria for diabolic possession was strongly influenced by an optimistic evaluation of parapsychology. Normally, the parapsychologists tend to explain all paranormal phenomena from secret forces within the human mind. In this way, demons, whose existence the parapsycholo-gists cannot explain, are substituted by human forces, which, by the way, also remain quite hypothetical. There seem to be some forces in the human soul which go beyond normal capacities, for instance in the case of water-diviners or some forms of telepathy.98 But parapsy-chology normally is not acknowledged as a science; in Germany, the Supreme Court has refused it that status.99 The principle reason for this refusal was the fact that the more important parapsychological phenomena cannot be repeated according to the free will of the person who has claimed parapsychic faculties.00 In many cases, we should presuppose, besides the frequent phenomenon of a trick or a fraud, the intervention of spirits whose knowledge goes beyond that of the

    Even an exegete who does not believe in the reality of demonic possession admits that the synoptic Gospels distinguish between sickness and possession: Franz Annen, Der Exorzismus aus neutestamentlicher Sicht, in Dmonen unter uns, -, here 4.

    9 Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos 6-8. See Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, 84. It is incorrect, then, to attribute the difference between sickness and possession only to modern times, as does Patrick Dondelinger, Die Praxis des Exorzismus in der Kirche, Concilium 4 (998) 55-4, here 5. The first to make this distinction is William of Auvergne (d. 49), according to Katharina Elliger, Besessenheit, in Teufelsglaube, ed. Herbert Haag (Tbingen: Katzmann, 94) 9-49, here 95. Even this seems too late.

    98 See Petersdorff, Dmonologie, vol. , pp. 5 and 6. 99 See Franz Reckinger, Wenn Tote wieder leben. Wunder: Zeichen Gottes

    oder PSI? (Aschaffenburg: Ursula Zller, 995) 5-. 00 See Reckinger In meinem Namen, 9-4; Mastronardi et al.,

    Possessione demoniaca, 0-; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 8.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 54

    human person. An example may help to illustrate what I mean. One of my theological students referred to a special case of automatic writing in a spiritualist session conducted by his younger brothers and sisters. The small table used by the children wrote strange messages, which the local clergy, following the parapsychological interpretation, read as psychic automatisms coming from the subconscious. These mes-sages, however, were written in the old German script unknown to the children; they had to ask their grandmother to decipher them. Does it make sense to derive such writing from the subconscious of the children? The sinister context of these phenomena points in another direction which should not be unknown to Catholic priests.

    During the crises provoked by exorcism, we observe not only one or another parapsychic phenomenon, but a rather large realm of these. One of the most striking signs is understanding and speaking in tongues that the possessed person does not know. During an exor-cism conducted by a Protestant pastor in the Philippines, for instance, fifty different demons spoke out of the possessed student; some voices expressed themselves in diverse languages. The twenty-hour struggle was recorded on tape.0

    Another astounding phenomenon is occasional levitation. Sulpi-cius Severus (active 95-404), in the biography of Saint Martin, refers to the example of demoniacs exorcised in a church. They levitated and remained attached to the roof, heads down and feet up, without any movement of the clothes downwards.0 During an exorcism some years ago in the city of Rome, it is reported that a young man climbed up, as if there were a ladder, to the roof of the church. But there was no ladder. At the end of the exorcism, he descended and found himself seated as before in his place. After the crisis, he did not recall anything.0

    It is also striking to observe the reaction of the possessed to holy things related to Christ. Even the Protestant theologian Willem Van Dam notes that demons, which detest holy water, can detect its pres-ence and are able to distinguish it from unblessed water.04 Before pro-ceeding to the exorcism, the exorcist should make a good confession, because otherwise the demons can reveal his unconfessed sins; this

    0 See Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, 4. 0 Sulpicius Severus, Dialogus III.6 (CSEL :04). See Van Dam,

    Dmonen und Besessene, 89. 0 Amorth, Exorzisten und Psychiater, . 04 Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, 9, 8-80. The reaction is not

    the same when the possessed person is confronted with pagan interventions (p. 5).

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 55

    trait also cannot be explained in terms of parapsychic faculties.05 If we evaluate the great scale of paranormal phenomena, provoked by exorcism and linked to an aversion to Christ, which transcends human knowledge, it seems strange to affirm that there are no sure criteria to discern exorcisms. If the criteria mentioned by the old and the new rites of exorcism are verified, moral certainty about cases of possession should be possible.

    Iv. possessIon and other forms of demonIc InfluenceAlthough diabolic possession is the most manifest form of demonic influence, in the experience of exorcists such cases are relatively few. In only a small percentage of suspected cases the persons really are pos-sessed.06 Much more numerous are cases linked to the occult, magic, and Satanism, which lead to demonic disturbances unexplained by science. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quite realistically mentions the dangers coming from recourse to demons in witchcraft.0 Even in the most industrialized regions of the world, phenomena characterized by the Latin word maleficium are not lacking: somebody is trying to operate an evil effect on another with the help of demons.08 Great dis-cretion is certainly necessary in order to avoid confusing real diabolic influence with superstitious opinions not based on reality. It would be dangerous to move from one extreme to the other, from illuminist rationalism to a new witch hunt. In any case, there are some clear signs that reveal a previous bewitchment, such as, for instance, the presence of a magic object, a kind of sacramental of the Devil, in pillows or in mattresses where it could not have been left in a natural way.09 The old ritual long since acknowledged these things, confirmed today by the experience of many exorcists, when it mentioned such magic objects; the exorcist should interrogate demons about these

    05 Van Dam, Dmonen und Besessene, 9; Rodewyk, Dmonische Besessenheit heute, .

    06 Suenens, Erneuerung und die Mchte 46, p. 8; Balducci, Il diavolo, 5; Amorth, Un esorcista racconta, ; Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste, 6-9.

    0 CCE . 08 On this phenomenon, see Amorth, Un esorcista racconta, 4-5;

    Jrg Mller, Verwnscht, verhext, verrckt oder was? (Stuttgart: Betulius, 998); Moreno Fiori, Il maleficio tra concetti e fenomenologie, in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, 9-6; idem, Maleficio e demonologia: prospettive per una rinnovata attenzione pastorale, in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, -54; Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste, 5-65; idem, Il maleficio: indagine sulle pratiche del male (Rome: Citt Nuova, 005).

    09 See Amorth, Exorzisten und Psychiater, ; Fiori, Il maleficio tra concetti e fenomenologie, 6, 0; idem, Il maleficio, 6-68, 9-00; Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste, 58.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 56

    objects, and when they are found, they must be burned.0 The 999 version of the new rite does not mention anything about this, but alludes only to the possibility of superstition. This was corrected in the emended edition of 004. The first appendix provides a litur-gical formula that can be used also in the case of maleficium and of other troubles deriving from a demonic source, but this possibility is not sufficiently treated in the praenotanda. It is only hinted at in the definition of exorcism, taken from the Catechism.

    This oversight likely reflects, at least partially, the opinion of an Italian liturgist, Achille M. Triacca, who served as a member of the commission that elaborated the new rite.4 In a work prior to the pub-lication of the new rite, Triacca claimed that exorcism concerns only possessed persons, but not, as in other times, things or places. This opinion, which is not to be found in the authors latest publications, is motivated by the Code of Canon Law, which mentions exorcism only for persons.5 Triacca seems to forget, however, that the Code of 98 did not abrogate the liturgical books used by the Church,6 including the Rituale Romanum with its chapter on exorcism from 95. This part is still effective today, even beyond 999, once the bishop asks permission of the CDW to use it. Also the new rite, in the first appendix, provides an imperative exorcism, taken from the formula introduced by Leo xIII, which can be used against demonic influence on things and places. It would be contrary to the theology of the Incarnation to neglect material realities, refusing to bless them.8

    0 See norm 0, in RR 64 89. Praenotanda, in Ex 004 5; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, . Appendix I: Supplicatio et exorcismus qui adhiberi possunt in

    peculiaribus adiunctis ecclesiae, in Ex 004, pp. -. CCE 6; praenotanda, in Ex 004 : Cum Ecclesia petit, ut

    quaedam persona vel res [!] contra Maligni influxum id dicitur exorcismus. See Triacca, Esorcismo, in Liturgia, .

    4 See Achille M. Triacca, Esorcismo: un sacramentale discusso, Ecclesia orans 4 (98) 85-00; Lesorcismo, in I sacramentali e le benedizioni, ed. Ildebrando Scicolone et al., Anamnesis (Genova: Marietti, 989) 6-9; idem, Spirito Santo ed esorcismo, and Esorcismo.

    5 Triacca, Lesorcismo, in I sacramentali e le benedizioni, 0, with reference to CIC 98, can. .

    6 See CIC 98, can. . Appendix I: Supplicatio et exorcismus qui adhiberi possunt in

    peculiaribus adiunctis ecclesiae, in Ex 004, pp. -. 8 In the new Book of Blessings of 984, alas, many formularies

    manifest a great restriction regarding the benediction of material things: De benedictionibus (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 984, reprint 99). Even in the case of a house or of a rosary, the benediction is directed only to the persons using the object. For a demonstration of this phenomenon,

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 5

    Correspondingly, it is also wrong not to do anything against demonic influence on things and places related to humanity. The necessity of exorcistic protection was very well known in times when pagans con-verted in large numbers to Christ,9 but with the recent rise of neo-paganism, ancient threats are reemerging. As the human body forms part of a person, so also the material environment bears a strict relation to mankind. This relation, however, is based on a specific being that cannot be reduced to merely anthropological factors. Such specificity should also be taken into account in liturgical theology.

    v. the defInItIon of exorcIsm Exorcism in the Early ChurchThe most potent weapon against possession and other forms of diabolic influence is exorcism. But what is exorcism? The Greek word exorkisms appears in the New Testament as a term that signifies an insistent re-quest manifested before God (Mt 6:6) or directed against demons (Acts 9:).0 Jesus orders the demons to leave the possessed persons (e.g., Mk :5, ; 5:8; 9:5). A detailed description of an exorcism performed by St Paul is given in the Acts of the Apostles. At Philippi, Paul and his companions were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by soothsaying (Acts 6:6). Paul reacts with an exorcism: I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. The demon instantly leaves the girl, who loses her paranormal faculties, thereby infuriating her masters (Acts 6:8-9). Here the Apostle follows the example of the Lord who commanded demons. A prayer for liberation made only by a supplicant formula would no longer correspond to the faculty and order given by Jesus.

    see Daniel G. Van Slyke, The Order for Blessing Water: Past and Present, Antiphon 8. (00) -. Certainly every blessing is imparted for the sake of human beings, but the proper being of the material world should also be taken seriously. See Karin Bommes, Die Sakramentalien der Kirche, in Christusbegegnung in den Sakramenten, ed. Herbert Luthe, rd ed. (Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 994) 6-06, here 680-86. The experience of exorcists reveals this fact from a negative perspective, as for instance, in the case of a haunted house, where demonic influence has some specific impact on the place, even after changes occur in the ownership of the house: see Jeanguenin, Il diavolo esiste, 8-4.

    9 This is precisely when the first sacramentals were established, and their texts entered later into the Rituale Romanum of 64: Triacca, Esorcismo, in Liturgia, .

    0 Johannes Schneider, Exorkzo, in Theologisches Wrterbuch zum Neuen Testament, vol. 5, ed. Otto Bauernfeind et al. (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 954) 465; Elmar Bartsch, Die Sachbeschwrungen in der rmischen Liturgie (Mnster: Aschendorff, 96) 5-; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 6.

    Reckinger In meinem Namen, 4.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 58

    It is difficult to understand the opinion of Probst and Richter, who maintain: Only supplicating exorcism is situated in the genuine Jewish-Christian tradition of prayer, whereas the imperative exorcism comes without doubt from the pagan realm. The examples of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul refute this opinion. If we should define exorcism, starting with the typical example reported in the Acts of the Apostles, we could say: Exorcism, in the Christian realm, is a command in the name of Jesus Christ to a demon to leave his victim. Probst and Richter mention that, in the ancient Church, exorcizare refers nearly exclusively to the expulsion of evil forces. Together with Emil Lengeling, a member of the above-mentioned German com-mission, they claim: The term exorcism can be used in a correct terminological sense only for an order given to the Devil.4 If this thesis is true, then a supplicating exorcism (exorcismus deprecativus) is no exorcism in the proper sense of the word, but only a prayer called such because of some similarity. In this case, the title of the new ritual De exorcismis could be cited with quotation marks, because the exorcist is authorized to avoid every real exorcism, understood as an imperative or a command given to demons.

    Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 45; Richter, Liturgie zur Befreiung, 0, with reference to Klaus Thraede, Exorzismus, in Reallexikon fr Antike und Christentum (969) 44-, here 44-58. Thraede does not establish this opposition; nevertheless, he deduces baptismal exorcism from Gnostic practice (p. 84). This affirmation contradicts the exorcistic character of baptism already present in the Apostolic Fathers, including Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch (probably), and Irenaeus: see Manfred Hauke, Heilsverlust in Adam: Stationen griechischer Erbsndenlehre (Paderborn: Bonifatius, 99) 9, 9, . Distinct exorcisms are mentioned first in Traditio apostolica 0, attributed to Hippolytus of Rome. For a critique of Thraede, see Bruno Kleinheyer, Gottesdienst der Kirche: Handbuch der Liturgiewissenschaft, Teil , pt , Sakramentliche Feiern I (Regensburg: Pustet, 989) 4.

    Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 4. 4 Emil J. Lengeling, Exorzismen und antidmonische Texte in der rmischen

    Liturgie mit Ausnahme des Groen Exorzismus, Anlage zu den Ergebnissen der Gemischten Kommission der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz von 984, cited in Probst and Richter, Exorzismus oder Liturgie, 5: der Begriff Exorzismus (kann) terminologisch korrekt nur auf die imperative Anrede an den Teufel und auf an ihn gerichtete Aufforderungen und Befehle verwandt werden. See also Bommes Die Sakramentalien der Kirche, 665; Kohlschein, Der Exorzismus ein zwiespltiges, p. 8; Richter, Liturgie zur Befreiung, 95; Dondelinger, review of Probst and Richter, 99: an exorcism not directed against the Devil is a contradiction in terms.

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 59

    The Current Definitions of ExorcismThe first definitions of exorcism are found in the writings of Au-gustine and Isidore of Seville. For Augustine, to exorcize means to expel an impure spirit with conjuration by divine things.5 Isidore of Seville, the great encyclopedist at the end of the patristic period in the Latin Church, defines Exorcism, a Greek word, in Latin conjuration, as a command to the Devil to go away.6 In the Latin churches of Rome, Gaul, and Spain since the end of late antiquity, we also find exorcisms directed immediately toward material things, like water and oil, with the aim of expelling any demonic influence. But the exorcism against possession seems to imply generally an order to the demon in the name of the Lord. Even the baptismal exorcisms, at least until the liturgical reform of the 960s, were formulated in an impera-tive way. For this reason, important specialists on exorcism, such as Forget (94), Rodewyk (959), and Balducci (988), include the (imperative) order given to the Devil in the definition of exorcism:

    Lexorcisme est donc, proprement parler, une adjuration au dmon pour lobliger vacuer un lieu, abandonner une situation, rendre la libert une personne quil dtient plus ou moins en son pouvoir.8

    Exorzismus ... ein im Namen Gottes (Jesu) an den Teufel gerichteter Befehl, Menschen oder Gegenstnde zu verlassen beziehungsweise sie in Ruhe zu lassen.9

    5 Augustine, De beata vita III.8 (CCSL 9:5): exorcizare hoc est per divina eum (spiritum immundum) adiurando expellere.

    6 Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae VI.9.55-56, in Isidori Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford: Clarendon, 9) vol. , p. 5: Exorcismus Graece, Latine coniuratio, sive sermo increpationis est adversus diabolum, ut discedat. Hoc est exorcismus increpare et coniurare adversus diabolum; unde sciendum est quod non creatura Dei in infantibus exorcizatur aut exsufflatur, sed ille sub quo omnes qui cum peccato nascuntur. Est enim princeps peccatorum. On the oldest definitions see Bartsch, Die Sachbeschwrungen, -0.

    Bartsch, Die Sachbeschwrungen, 6-40. 8 Jacques Forget, Exorcisme, in Dictionnaire de theologie catholique, vol.

    5, ed. A. Vacant, E. Mangenot et al. (Paris: Letouzey et An, 94) 6-80, here 6. Nevertheless the following phrase introduces a differentiation that could have influenced the distinction between exorcismus imprecativus and deprecativus: Labjuration se fait sous forme dordre intim directement au dmon, mais au nom de Dieu ou de Jsus-Christ, soit sous forme dinvocation, de supplication adresse Dieu et Notre-Seigneur, en vue dobtenir quils donnent lordre dexpulsion ou quils en assurent lexcution.

    9 Adolf Rodewyk, Exorzismus,in Lexikon fr Theologie und Kirche, vol. , ed. Josef Hfer et al. (Freiburg/Bresgau: Herder, 959) 4-5, here 4.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 60

    Gli esorcismi sono perci degli scongiuri, dei comandi fatti in nome di Dio al demonio, perch desista dallesplicare un influsso malefico in luoghi, cose, o su di una determinata persona.0

    According to St Thomas Aquinas, the command is the correct way to deal with demons during an exorcism. In the Summa theologiae, he addresses the question whether it is permitted to conjure demons:

    There are two ways of conjuring (duplex est adiurandi modus), one by supplication (per modum deprecationis) the other by expulsion (per modum compulsionis): it is not permitted to conjure the demons in the first way, because this mode seems to belong to some benevolence or friendship which is not permitted in the relation to demons; but such is permitted by way of expulsion.

    For St Thomas, conjuring by way of expulsion accords with the divine power received by Christ.

    We can make a further comparison between exorcism and the other sacramentals. Egon von Petersdorff observes: Exorcisms have their efficacy not only, like the other sacramentals, from the force of the supplicating prayer of holy Church, but primarily from her exorcistic power to command. Preferring the so-called exorcismus deprecativus to the imperative form, as it is possible according to new ritual, seems to dilute the exorcistic power given to the Church by Jesus Christ.

    Supplicating Exorcisms?Developing the language of St Thomas, we could distinguish, never-theless, between a supplicating exorcism, directed not to the demon but to God, who is asked to expel the demon, and an imperative exorcism, directed to the demon or demons in the name of God. This distinction, it seems, is of modern origin. It could be adapted

    0 Balducci, Il diavolo, 00. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae [henceforth ST] II-II q. 90 a. ,

    resp., in Summa theologiae, ed. Ottawa Institute of Medieval Studies, nd rev. ed. (Ottawa: Collge Dominicain, 94) vol. , col. 90a.

    Petersdorff, Dmonologie, vol. , p. 45. See also Vinzenz Thalhofer and Ludwig Eisenhofer, Handbuch der katholischen Liturgik, nd ed. (Freiburg/Bresgau: Herder, 9) vol. , p. 506: Die wesentlichen Bestandteile des Exorzismus gehen schon in das hchste christliche Altertum zurck. So vor allem der whrend der Beschwrung an den Teufel gerichtete Befehl, aus dem Energumenen auszufahren, wodurch sich der Exorzismus wesentlich vom bloen Gebete unterscheidet.

    It is used, for instance, by Kaczynski, Der Exorzismus, 8, but not yet in the standard liturgical manual of Thalhofer and Eisenhofer,

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 6

    from a criterion that contemplates the exorcistic prayers transmit-ted from Christian antiquity. We have numerous hints of imperative exorcism being used in patristic times, but among the few written exorcistic prayers in the earliest period there is the special case of the Apostolic Constitutions (Syria, fourth century), which do not use the imperative form.4 In the seven exorcistic prayers attributed to Cyprian of Antioch, there is an alternation between invocations of God and commands directed against demons.5 In the seventh and eighth centuries, among the first more elaborate formulae for exorcism, we find commands to the Devil, but also prayers directed to God.6 Evidently, every exorcism implies at least tacitly a prayer to God; it is an action conducted in the name of Christ. But the formulae that begin with adiuro or exorcizo, in the exorcism for possessed persons, seem exclusively to use the imperative form. The prayers directly ad-dressed to God can be interpreted as supplications which accompany the exorcisms and which alternate with them. But it seems altogether imprecise to call them exorcisms in a proper sense. They may figure as exorcisms secundum quid. In the Rituale Romanum (64) we find

    Handbuch, vol. , pp. 506-. It may derive from Forget, Exorcisme, in Dictionnaire de thologie.

    4 Constitutiones apostolicae VIII. (SC 6:56-58). According to Thalhofer and Eisenhofer, Handbuch, vol. , p. 50, these prayers are not exorcisms. They appear at the end of the first part of the eucharistic celebration, together with the dismissal of catechumens and penitents.

    5 Enzo Lodi, ed., Enchiridion euchologicum fontium liturgicorum, Bibliotheca Ephemerides Liturgicae Subsidia 5 (Rome: C.L.V.-Edizioni Liturgiche, 99) 6-8; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 9-. On the ex-magician Cyprian, who might be legendary, see Victor Saxer, Cipriano di Antiochia, in Dizionario patristico e di antichit cristiane, ed. Angelo di Berardino (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 98) vol. , p. 6. For other ancient sources, see Adolph Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, (Freiburg/Bresgau: Herder, 909, reprint Bonn: Nova et Vetera, 006) vol. , pp. 55-9; Thraede, Exorzismus, 09-4; Basilio Petr, Demoni ed esorcismi nella tradizione ortodossa, in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, 55-6; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 8-6.

    6 The relation between the exorcisms of the old sacramentaries and the Rituale Romanum of 64 is briefly reported in Lengeling, Der Exorzismus, 5-56; Pietro Sorci, Gesti e atteggiamenti nel rito degli esorcismi, in Tra maleficio, patologie e possessione, 4-6, here 56. The medieval development is described by Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen, vol. , pp. 54-85.

    The complete verification of this hypothesis requires a more detailed study of the sources. For a sample of the exorcistic texts against possession used in the Middle Ages, see Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen, vol. , pp. 586-65.

    THE THEOLOGICAL BATTLE OVER ExORCISM

  • 6

    an alternation between exorcismi and orationes. The orationes are prayers; the exorcismi are commands with imperatives given to demons.8 The orationes have a conclusive role, whereas in the new rite similar prayers are called exorcismi deprecativi and located at the beginning.9

    We could make a comparison between exorcism and the sacramen-tal rites that proceed ex opere operato. Among the sacramentals, exor-cism has a special role because it was not introduced by the Church, but by Christ himself who has invested it with a special efficacy in his name.40 For this reason some theologians attribute to Christian exorcism a certain efficacy ex opere operato, even though mainstream theology prefers to speak of an efficacy ex opere operantis Ecclesiae.4 Without technical terms, the efficacy of performing exorcisms in the name of Christ is stressed also by the praenotanda of the new rite: in the exorcism the Church does not operate in her own name, but only in the name of God or of Christ the Lord whom every reality, even the Devil and the demons, have to obey.4 For this reason we can make a comparison, as to efficacy, with the sacraments not efficacy understood ex opere operato as such is typical for the sacraments, but the conferring ex opere operato of sanctifying grace. Sacramentals also can have a certain effect ex opere operato, even if this effect does not immediately cause the sanctifying grace.

    For the absolution granted in the ritual of penance, the Byzantine Church uses a supplicating prayer which invokes almighty God to pardon the sins, whereas the Roman formula of absolution accentuates the sacramental power given by God to his minister: Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis. The sacramental effect does not depend on the suppli-cating or the indicative form. Nevertheless, the reconciliatory faculty given by Christ is clearer in the indicative expression: I absolve you

    8 RR 64 895-904; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 50. 9 Ex 004 6-6, 8-84; Nanni, Il dito di Dio, .40 According to CCE 66, with reference to SC 60, the Church has

    instituted the sacramentals. Regarding exorcism, this is true of the established form of liturgical celebration. But the foundation of this regulation is the precept of the Lord himself: see CCE 6.

    4 Nanni, Il dito di Dio, 5. Already Thomas Aquinas notes that the imperative words in the exorcisms have some effect, even if only baptism confers sanctifying grace: ST III q. a. . A standard reference on this topic, rarely discussed in the last decades, is Franz Schmid, Die Sakramentalien der katholischen Kirche (Brixen, 896). The miserable state of systematic reflection on the sacramentals is deplored, for instance, by Carlo Rocchetta, Sacramentaria fondamentale (Bologna: Dehoniane, 989) 496.

    4 Praenotanda, in Ex 004 : Ecclesia in exorcismis agit, non proprio nomine, sed unice quidem nomine Dei vel Christi Domini, cui omnia, etiam diabolus et daemonia, oboedire debent et subsunt.

    MANFRED HAUKE

  • 6

    from your sins.4 We could make a similar observation concerning the fittingness of the imperative exorcism. The decree of Cardinal Medina, at the beginning of the new rite, likewise underscores the command in the name of the Lord:

    Among the sacramentals, the Church, in obedience to the Lords Prayer, has mercifully provided since ancient times to ask God that the Christian faithful be freed from every danger and especially from persecutions by the Devil. In a peculiar way, however, in the Church exorcists are instituted who imitate the charity of Christ and liberate the possessed from the Evil One also by commanding (etiam imperando) the demons to go away in the name of God so that they [the demons] do no more harm in any way to human creatures.44

    Finally, the definition of exorcism in the new rite cites a description from The Catechism of the Catholic Church. In this definition there is no indication as to the linguistic form: When the Church publicly and with authority demands, in the name of Christ, that some person or thing be protected from the influence of the Evil One and liberated from his dominion, this is called exorcism.45

    Exorcism: Invocative Benediction or Adjuration?The neglect of imperative exorcism may have been influenced also by Achille Triacca.46 In his contribution on exorcism in the liturgical manual Anamnesis in 989, Triacca maintains that exorcism is an in-vocative benediction for persons.4 Since Christ expelled the demon by the finger of God, namely, the Holy Spirit (see Lk :0), the Italian liturgist explains that exorcism is an epiclesis, an invocation of the Spirit of God.48 According to Triacca, the pneumatological per-

    4 See Franz Diekamp and Klaudius Jssen, Katholische Dogmatik nach den Grundstzen des hl. Thomas, th ed. (Mnster: Aschendorff, 96) vol. , 4-50.

    44 Decretum, in Ex 004, p. . 45 CCE 6; praenotanda, in Ex 004 :


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