Pope Francis' Informal Exorcism, Latin American Style

From Huffington-

While Pope Francis did not perform a formal exorcism on the young man in wheel chair, he clearly realized an informal one known as a prayer of deliverance from evil. Without access to the transcript of his prayer, we are of course limited to the video footage of the event. However, we do know that the Mexican priest who brought the young man to Rome presented him to the pope as demon-possessed. Having observed hundreds of such exorcisms during the course of my research in Latin America, I view his firm and determined laying of both hands on the head of the afflicted young man as strong evidence of the pope having performed an informal exorcism in the form of a deliverance prayer. Note how, in contrast, he places only one hand on the head of the young woman he blesses, without a prayer of deliverance, right after exorcising the young man.

Since the late 1980s, competition with Pentecostalism has led to the formation of a cadre of Latin American priests affiliated with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) who specialize in "liberation" or exorcism ministries. Such is current parishioner demand for release from demonic possession that some priests, such as Brazilian Charismatic superstar Father Marcelo Rossi, even celebrate "liberation masses" (missas de libertação) on a weekly basis. Acknowledging his pastoral debt to Brazilian Pentecostal leader, Bishop Edir Macedo, whose Universal Church of the Kingdom of God brought exorcism to the fore of Spirit-centered Christianity in Latin America, Padre Marcelo stated in an interview that "it was Bishop Edir Macedo who woke us up. He got us up."

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-andrew-chesnut/pope-francis-informal-exorcism-latin-american-style_b_3319500.html