Catholic Exorcism: What It Is, Who Can Perform It, and What It Is Not

Most people arriving at this page want one of two things: to understand what an exorcism is, or to get one.

If it is the second, the answer is short. You cannot arrange one yourself, you should not attempt anything yourself, and the correct first step is a conversation with your parish priest. Everything else on this page explains why that is the answer rather than an evasion.

And if you are frightened right now, hold on to this: the Church's whole posture here is calm, because the outcome is not in doubt. Christ has already won. What follows is procedure, not peril.

A solemn exorcism is a public rite of the Church in which a demonic power afflicting a specific person is addressed directly and commanded, in the name of Christ, to depart. The authority invoked is not the priest's own. It is Christ's, exercised through the Church, which is precisely why the Church controls who may exercise it.

It is liturgical. It uses a set rite, it involves Scripture and prescribed prayers, and it is normally undertaken over a period rather than in a single confrontation. It is conducted soberly and, in almost all cases, privately.

It is also distinct from the prayers of exorcism that appear elsewhere in ordinary Catholic life, including within the rite of baptism. Those are not restricted in the same way. Throughout this page, exorcism means the solemn rite.

Canon 1172 of the Code of Canon Law states that no one may lawfully perform an exorcism over the possessed unless he has obtained special and express permission from the local ordinary, and that this permission is to be given only to a priest who is marked by piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life.

Two things follow, and both matter.

First, a lay person may never perform one. Not with sufficient faith, not in an emergency, not with the right words. There is no version of the rule that admits an exception.

Second, an individual priest may not simply decide to. He needs permission for the case. Most dioceses appoint one priest to the office, and he is deliberately not easy to reach directly, which frustrates people until they understand what the caution is protecting them from.

That caution is the point. The people who arrive convinced they need an exorcism are, very often, extremely unwell in ways that are treatable. A Church that handed out the rite on request would be handing the wrong help to vulnerable people at the worst moment of their lives.

It begins with a parish priest, not a specialist, and it usually ends there too.

If he judges that something warrants escalation, he can reach the diocesan exorcist. Assessment follows, and it includes medical and psychiatric evaluation. Diocesan exorcists routinely work alongside physicians and psychiatrists, and commonly report that the large majority of those who come to them are suffering from something other than possession and are referred accordingly.

The traditional indicators the Church looks for are narrow and are treated as indicators rather than proof: knowledge the person could not have, speech in languages never learned, strength beyond their physical capacity, and a violent aversion to the sacred. Even together, these prompt further assessment rather than immediate action.

Being told your suffering is not possession is not a rejection. It usually means help that will actually work is now available.

Nearly everything, which is the part the films obscure entirely.

Confession, Mass, daily prayer, holy water, a blessed medal, a house blessing from your parish priest, the Rosary, and the St. Michael prayer are all available to every Catholic without permission from anyone. Between them they address the overwhelming majority of what people arrive at this page worried about.

They are ordinary, which is exactly why they are reliable. The Church's protection is not held in reserve behind a rare rite; it is handed out every Sunday to anyone who comes.

Our guide on demonic oppression sets out the distinctions in more detail, and the guide on the seven doors covers what tends to open the situation in the first place.