The Pope vs. Satan

From The Daily Mail:

The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult.

They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of “Godlessness.”

Now fellow moron, Gabriel Malor seems to be poo pooing the rite of Exorcism, if I’m reading him right…

I worked for a Catholic church from high school through college. In my first week I got a call that started like this: “This is going to sound strange, but I’m totally serious. Can you send someone over for an exorcism?” He then proceeded to explain that things were moving on their own and the house was making sounds and that it had been going on for a few weeks. He was nominally Lutheran, but they wouldn’t do anything about it. Heh. We didn’t either.

P.S. I just noticed some unintentional (?) humor in the Daily Mail URL to this story. it ends with “Satan=Santa.” Hmmmm.

More: I meant to add this as part of the post earlier, but got distracted by my 13-month-old niece, who I’m visiting in Virginia.

The Vatican is particularly concerned that young people are being exposed to the influence of Satanic sects through rock music and the Internet.

AOSHQ commenter, Vercingetorix had this to say:

“…influence of Satanic sects through rock music and the Internet.

“Eh, actually, that is not as prudish as it might seem. I used to listen to Ozzy, yadda, yadda, but also the Detroit rapper ESHAM (the Unholy) and his group NATAS (Satan, backwards, in case I need to spell it out), also the 3-6 Mafia, or as they were first named, the Triple Six Mafia. You hear more of this, and less of the Gospels, well, you figure out what philosophy becomes more important to you. You can only watch X number of Taratino films, slasher movies, listen to “KKKill the Fetus”, bang so many chicks, drink, use drugs, fight, etc, and miss Y many days at church before you start playing for the other team. There’s a reason why Earth isn’t paradise and why people suggest that Hell is jampacked, and Heaven has great parking.

I concur. I have no idea if Vercingetorix actually believes that demonic possession is possible, like I do, but he certainly has a good handle on how evil is perpetuated.

Anyway, I’m glad the Pope is doing what he’s doing.

UPDATE:

Darn the luck! The Vatican denies the whole thing!

The Vatican is denying reports it plans to install more exorcists around the world so possessed people can get help quickly.

“Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of ordering local bishops to bring in garrisons of exorcists to fight demonic possession,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters in Rome Friday.

Well, WTF???

Thanks to RWS…I guess. 

The Exorcist in 5 Seconds: