Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican
has formally recognised the International Association of Exorcists,
giving its blessing to a group of 250 priests in 30 countries who claim
to save the possessed from Satan.
The
association's practice of exorcism is now recognised under canon law,
the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper reported Thursday.
Pope
Francis often insists on the need to fight "Satan" and "demons", and
was captured in dramatic images last year placing his hands on the head
of a boy in a wheelchair who appeared to slump at his touch -- an act of
prayer exorcists claim was intended to free the victim from the devil.
The
first association of exorcists was founded by Father Gabriele Amorth,
the Holy See's chief exorcist for almost 30 years, who has described
intense sessions with possessed people who scream, blaspheme and spit
shards of glass.
He set up an
Italian exorcists association in 1991, after which he began organising
meetings with devil fighters from other countries, leading to the
establishment of the international group.
Francesco
Bamonte, the head of the association, told L'Osservatore that the
recognition was "a cause for joy for the whole Church," saying that
"exorcism is a form of charity that benefits those who suffer".
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