Episode 233: The Pope’s Exorcist: Father Gabriele Amorth

For thirty years, this man performed more exorcisms than anyone else, serving as the go-to demon hunter for the Vatican. He even allowed a Hollywood director to film one of the battles with darkness. His life is even the subject of a new horror film, but is this renowned evil fighter the real deal? This week’s episode is The Pope’s Exorcist: Father Gabriele Amorth.

SOURCES

A Critical Review of Dissociative Trance and Possession Disorders: Etiological, Diagnostic, Therapeutic, and Nosological Issues, La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674371105600407

An Exorcist Tells His Story by Father Gabriele Amorth

Are symptoms of spirit possessed patients covered by the DSM-IV or DSM-5 criteria for possession trance disorder? A mixed-method explorative study in Uganda, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-012-0635-1

Chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth says Devil is in the Vatican, Rational Skeptic: http://www.rationalskepticism.org/christianity/chief-exorcist-says-devil-is-in-the-vatican-t2289.html

Dissociative trance and spirit possession: Challenges for cultures in transition, Psychiatry Clinical News: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pcn.12425#:~:text=For%20clinical%20psychiatry%2C%20trance%20and,ICD%2D10%20(code%20F44.v

Dissociative Trance Disorder, MindHelp: https://mind.help/topic/dissociative-trance-disorder/

Dissociative Trance Disorder: Clinical and Rorschach Findings in Ten Persons Reporting Demon Possession and Treated by Exorcism, Journal of Personality Assessment: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8667145/

Emanuela Orlandi Was 'Kidnapped For Vatican Sex Parties,' Claims Father Gabriele Amorth, Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/emanuela-orlandi-vatican-sex-parties_n_1536531

Exorcism: The Ritual, the Rite, and the Reality by Father Gabriele Amorth, Inside the Vatican: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=5447

Exorcisms make a 21st century comeback in Minnesota, U.S., Star Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/exorcisms-make-a-21st-century-comeback/564708901/

Gabriele Amorth conducted over 60,000 exorcisms and believed Hitler was possessed. Meet the man who inspired The Pope’s Exorcist, The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/gabriele-amorth-conducted-over-60-000-exorcisms-and-believed-hitler-was-possessed-meet-the-man-who-inspired-the-popes-exorcist-201383

He Sends the Devil Packing, LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-30-fg-exorcist30-story.html

Here’s what real exorcists are saying about Russell Crowe’s Vatican exorcist movie, Catholic News Agency: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253928/exorcists-worry-russell-crowe-movie-will-distort-vatican-exorcist-gabriel-amorth

How an exorcist priest came face-to-face with the devil himself, NY Post: https://nypost.com/2020/03/07/how-an-exorcist-priest-came-face-to-face-with-the-devil-himself/

Lessons From Fr. Gabriele Amorth’s First Exorcism, Catholic Exchange: https://catholicexchange.com/lessons-from-fr-gabriele-amorths-first-exorcism/

Pope's Exorcist Says the Devil Is In the Vatican, ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/chief-exorcist-rev-gabriele-amorth-devil-vatican/story?id=10073040

Possession Syndrome at High Altitude (4575 m/15000 ft), Kathmandu University Medical Journal: https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/KUMJ/article/view/12516

The Clinical Characteristics of Possession Disorder Among 20 Chinese Patients in the Hebei Province of China, Psychiatry Online: https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ps.49.3.360

 'The Devil and Father Amorth' Review: New Documentary from 'The Exorcist' Director Isn't as Fun as Pea Soup Vomit, Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/devil-father-amorth-review-william-friedkin-exorcist-documentary-899916

The Devil and Father Amorth Reviews, Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_devil_and_father_amorth

The Devil and Father Amorth, Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/10/father-amorth-the-vatican-exorcist

The Exorcist in the 21st Century by Father Gabriele Amorth

The Pope’s Exorcist, Sophia Institute Press: https://sophiainstitute.com/product/32003/

The priest who had the number of the beast: As the Vatican's chief exorcist for 30 years, Father Gabriel Amorth claimed to have dealt with the devil 60,000 times. Now a new book tells his head-spinning story, Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8202129/Head-spinning-story-Vaticans-chief-exorcist-30-years-Father-Gabriel-Amorth.html

Trapped Between Theological and Medical Notions of Possession: A Case of Possession Trance Disorder With a 3-Year Follow-Up, Frontiers in Psychiatry: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.891859/full#B27

World's top exorcist saw the Devil in Harry Potter, yoga, and thousands of middle-aged, middle-class women, National Post: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/worlds-top-exorcist-saw-the-devil-in-harry-potter-yoga-and-thousands-of-middle-aged-middle-class-women