The Chief exorcist of Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, has been accused of excusing Hitler and Stalin's atrocities because he said these two showed evidence of demonic possession.
You know--"The devil made 'em do it."
No, said Fr. Amorth on Vatican Radio. "The devil can possess not only individuals, but also groups's and populations."
When Rabbi Marvin Heir of the Simon Weisenthal Center insisted that Fr. Amorth was letting Hitler off the hook, the quiet exorcist replied, "It is both. They have full responsibility for their actions and they followed the promptings of the devil."
Before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger was asked a similar question by journalist, Peter Seewald. The Cardinal replied, "Hitler was a demoinic figure."
And continued, "The power of evil makes itself at home precisely in what is banal..the greater the evil, the more pitiful."
Most exorcists note that mental illness is a by product of posession--not that all mental illness is of demonic origin, but that once a person chooses evil, the loss of rationality follows.
Fr. Amorth decries the lack of awareness of evil in modern societies where the idea of evil incarnate is scoffed at. About the movie The Exorcist, Fr. Amorth said. "Fifteen scenes are very real, the substance of the film is positive."
In his Wednesday October 18th address the Pope said of devilish temptations:
"There are many ways in which the human heart can be perverted. The only way to avoid them is to be in full communion with Jesus."
All Hallow's Eve is the vigil of All Saints Day.
About Me
- Aunty Belle
- Aunty Belle is taken from Antebellum, a time of civility and respect fer the foundations of Western Civilization. Y'all can find me rockin' on the porches most days. Be neighborly and come sit a spell. Bring yore dawgs. Mah iced tea is the best, evah.(About yore third visit mah Cracker-speak will become intelligible. I'se sorry iffin' new folks find it odd) We's lighthearted on the Front porch http://abporkrinds.blogspot.com/ so iffin' ya want some high octane debate, jes c'mon around to the Back Porch.http://auntybelles.blogspot.com/
8 comments:
I've never been able to understand "the devil made me do it" in the context of freewill... do we do things because we decided to, or because Satan made us do bad or God made us do good? it seems to vary depending on who you ask...
I hold people responsible for their behavior - not God, Satan, booze or most anything else they care to attribute it to... mental illness is naturally another matter... immaturity is another - like when little kids do horrible things we can't fathom...
there's certainly something more in the universe than mankind... there may be non-corporeal forces that exist... but if so, I don't think any of us have figured them out, despite what the masses may claim about their own beliefs...
/bark bark bark
tell you what aunty. max von sydow made a killer exorcist. the first puke out of split pea and i would have stuck a stake in it and called it a day!
banal=evil. interesting. dovetails nicely with the thesis that creativity is the earthly synonym for the divine.
"the power of Christ compels you!!" i remember reading the exorcist when i was just a pup....almost all of it in one night. was scared to get out of bed to pee. grrrherherhahaha!
happy eve of El dia de los muertos aunty!!!
/grrr
Yep, Bawgs, sugar, youse right! Ever'body is responsible fer they own deeds...cause, as ya' say, we got free will-God doan snatch back the free will--He give us ten pointers about how to avoid the misery of misuse of free will but he doan snatch back the free will. Natcherly, satan would shur like to sweet talk ya' outa any good decision, but the decision is yores.
Why Dawg, youse among the livin' still? We been worrit 'bout ya'.
Oh ya' saw the movie EXORCIST? Me, I cain't manage it. I done threw the book across the room in fear and ain't been back since. I does remember that the opening give me the chills somethin' fierce.
Dawg, that Christ compels ya' stuff--well...funny ya say that. See, the thang is that Fr.Amorth weren't happy with the "new" rite of exorcism as it omitted some of the prayers...and others maybe is reportin' similar worries,so the Church is goin' back to the old one. Well...good.
El dia de las muertas, ole!
Stogie has a situation over at http://saberpoint.blogspot.com/
that may need an exorcist --hey wait! Thas' been done I heard--wif Karl Rove in attendance.
shivers up&down my spine - i don't like all this talk of exorcism. that movie was scary (as I was channel-flipping last night I came across it- the scene with linda blair on the bed - the puke all about and her head screwed on backwards - oh dear!)
to this day,i cannot bear to have white sheets on a bed because of that movie.
but i do hope for a bit of exorcism next tuesday. ;)
Bird Beauty, yeah darlin' I'se hangin' wif' you--never could watch that movie.
New Thought: Is it interesting that some folks cain't find a rationale fer pure evil--take the Danny Rolling case--whar' that man stradled his college victims as he used tree trimmers to behead them--meaning as they watched in abject terror. This is evil personified. Some folks wanna find a social cause--an' I go wif' social causes where it is murder, rage, etc...but this was not rage, this was calculated evil.
But thank heaven(literally) fer the good folks--as in the saints--today is all saints day!!
aunt b - I agree Rolling was evil personified... I have no problem using that word for him... I am not generally for capital punishment, but what do you do with an SOB like him?
Exorcist was not only a great horror film, but a great film in general... very Kubrickian in its mise en scene...
"The power of Christ compels you" was very memorable in Austin Powers, too, when Dr. Evil had trouble with a mechanical chair...
you can be demonized, which means a demon is hasseling you with thoughts or people accusing you etc etc. where resist the devil and he will flee from u, comes into play. and then we have the possesion of a demon or many, then any holy spirit filled, tongues talking, love walking, authority taking,devil as his foot stool, disiple of JESUS can tell that demon to go in the mighty name of JESUS, and it should be every believer if they knew who and whose they are and knew what they have, cuz satan is already defeated at the cross of Christ and satan has no power eccept if he can use a humans power against him. so lets see...... if your thought are not on God and his ways. then satan is happy cuz your mind is on youself and your circumstance. do it Gods way and all his benifits are yours. suzisword...
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