Vatican Exorcist ‘Always Wins’

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, April 30 — Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican's top exorcist, is a busy man, according to a feature on him in the Los Angeles Times. The priest says an increasing interest in black magic, fortunetelling and the occult is keeping his schedule busy.

“These customs open the door to evil spirits and to demonic possessions,” Father Amorth, 80, told the paper. “Exorcism is God's true miracle.”

From Europe to the Americas to Africa, exorcism has been experiencing a renaissance as of late, the newspaper reported. The number of exorcisms has increased in Italy more than tenfold in the last decade alone to 300.

Father Amorth, co-founder of the International Association of Exorcists and its president emeritus, says he's never been afraid of the devil. “In fact,” he said, “I can say he is often scared of me.” While it might take some time to heal certain patients, he insisted he — and God — always wins.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa, Italy, recently organized a task force of exorcists and doctors to handle an overload of troubled Italians seeking the Church's help, some of them possessed and some of them just “disturbed.”

“The devil is real,” Cardinal Bertone said. “He is at work, and he is agitating.”

John Paul to Visit Switzerland in June

SWISSINFO, May 3 — Pope John Paul II will visit Switzerland in June, the Vatican confirmed May 3. It will be his first trip abroad since September and his first one to Switzerland in 20 years.

The Pope will visit Bern, the Swiss capital, June 5-6 and meet with a government delegation. He will also attend a youth festival, the news service reported.

The decision to visit is a “huge gift,” according to a spokesman for the Swiss bishops’ conference. It shows the Pope is still a “friend of youth” despite his advanced years, the spokesman said.

John Paul is scheduled to stay at a residential home for elderly people run by an order of nuns. On June 6, tens of thousands are expected to attend an open-air Mass celebrated by the Holy Father.

Archbishop: No Muslim Prayer in Spanish Cathedral

THE GUARDIAN (U.K.), May 3 — Muslims will not be allowed to pray in a former mosque in what is now the cathedral of Cordoba, Spain, according to a Vatican official.

“We, too, want to live in peace with persons of other religions,” Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, told the Vatican's AsiaNews agency. “However, we don't want to be pushed, manipulated and go against the very rules of our faith.”

The Vatican has been careful not to demand similar rights at mosques that were once Catholic churches, Archbishop Fitzgerald noted. Pope John Paul II had prayed at a mosque at Damascus in Syria, he said, “but he did not ask to celebrate Mass. One has to accept history and go forward.”

While Spanish Muslims had been lobbying to pray in part of the cathedral, the newspaper reported, Archbishop Fitzgerald said they had yet to make a formal request to the Vatican.