-Caveat Lector-
>From Associated Press (via ABC)
WIRE:Jan. 26, 1:27 p.m. ET
Vatican updates rules for exorcisms, urging caution
<Picture>
AP News Service
VATICAN CITY (AP) _ The Vatican issued new guidelines Tuesday for driving
out devils, urging exorcists not to mistake psychiatric illness for
diabolic possession _ but also stressing the power of evil.
The new exorcism rite, in Latin and contained in a red, leather-bound,
84-page book, also reflects Pope John Paul II's efforts to convince the
skeptical that the devil is very much in the world.
``The existence of the devil isn't an opinion, something to take or leave
as you wish,'' said Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, a Vatican official who
presented the revisions. ``Anyone who says he doesn't exist wouldn't have
the fullness of the Catholic faith.''
John Paul has denounced the devil in a series of recent homilies as a
``cosmic liar and murderer.''
In today's world, the cardinal said, the devil's force comes through
widespread acceptance of ``lies and deceit ... the idolatry of money ...
the idolatry of sex.''
The new guidelines are the first revision to the exorcism rite since 1614.
They did not drastically change the words or the gestures used by
exorcists, but they do provide optional texts for priests to use.
The novelty appears largely in the cautions offered to exorcists to take
psychiatric medicine into account.
Exorcists must ``not think possessed by a demon someone who is suffering
from some illness, above all psychic,'' or who is ``the victim of one's
own imagination,'' the guidelines advise.
Among the widely accepted signs of possession by the devil are speaking in
unknown tongues and demonstrating physical force beyond one's natural
capacity.
The rite itself remains essentially the same. It involves making the sign
of the cross, laying on hands, sprinkling holy water and ordering the
devil to leave the possessed person.
John Paul himself once performed an exorcism during his papacy, according
to the memoirs of Cardinal Jacques Martin, the former prefect of the
pontifical household.
Quoting the late cardinal's book, ``My Six Popes,'' the Italian news
agency ANSA said John Paul carried out the rite in 1982, driving out the
devil from a woman who was brought to him writhing on the ground.
The new guidelines will eventually be translated into modern languages.
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