Pope Leo XIV received in private audience the officials of the International Association of Exorcists (AIE), in a meeting where the current situation of the exorcism ministry in the Church and the need to strengthen the training of priests assigned to this pastoral task were addressed.
According to the portal In Terris, the meeting took place this Friday, March 13, and was attended by the president of the AIE, Monsignor Karel Orlita, and its vice president, Father Francesco Bamonte, a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Training and cooperation with health professionals
During the audience, which lasted approximately half an hour, the association’s representatives presented to the Pontiff the work carried out by the AIE, as well as the pastoral challenges related to the exorcism ministry in different parts of the world.
In the conversation, they explained the structure and objectives of the association, as well as its work in the initial and ongoing training of exorcist priests. They also shared with the Pope some of the concerns that exorcists regularly convey to the Church, including the need for each diocese to have at least one or more priests designated to exercise this ministry.
They also emphasized the convenience of new bishops receiving specific training on exorcism pastoral care within the preparation programs for the episcopate.
A ministry at the service of those who suffer
During the meeting, a report on the activity of the International Association of Exorcists was also presented to the Pontiff, in which various aspects related to the ministry were addressed.
Among them is the importance of adequately preparing priests before entrusting them with the exorcism ministry, as recommended by the liturgical ritual itself. The AIE officials also highlighted the need to collaborate with doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists to properly discern cases that require spiritual intervention.
The report also mentioned the exorcists’ concern about the increase in people turning to occult practices or esoteric sects, which in some cases can lead—according to the pastoral experience of the exorcists—to situations of serious spiritual disturbance.
An exchange of gifts
At the end of the meeting, Monsignor Orlita and Father Bamonte gave the Pope a metal image of Saint Michael the Archangel from the sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo, in the Gargano, as well as two copies—in Italian and in English—of the book Líneas guía para el ministerio del exorcismo, published by the association in 2019.
During the conversation, they also recalled with the Pontiff the figure of Father Gabriele Amorth, founder of the International Association of Exorcists.
For his part, Pope Leo XIV thanked the association for its work and, as a gesture of closeness, gave the visitors a rosary of the Holy Rosary before cordially bidding them farewell.