Devil keeps faith alive

Published on 28 September 2011 at 12:23

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Worried by what is a growing trend in Austria, Falterheadlines: "Patients visited by exorcist." Having established that "the chief exorcist in the diocese of Vienna alone conducts 50 exorcisms a year,” the weekly wonders if these are carried out “In hospitals too?" It seems that they are. Falter cites a number of clues as to the prevalence of the practice: a seminar organised by an exorcist and the head of neuropsychiatry in Vienna’s second largest hospital, on the theme of obsession beyond psychosis. Then there are the "Catholic fundamentalists who visit the sick in the city’s public hospitals” and “psychiatrists who recommend exorcists to their patients" — a practice that stigmatises the mentally ill by implying that they are possessed by the devil.

"Welcome to modern Catholicism," ironically remarks the weekly. “Instead of aligning itself with standards set by Vatican II, the Austrian church continues to attract the faithful with a mix of esoterism, mysticism and occultism, which is why Austrian dioceses have trouble fulfilling the large number of requests for exorcisms."

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