Renunciation Prayer: How to Renew Your Baptismal Promises and Close a Door with Christ

Renunciation was not invented by modern preachers. It stands at the center of Baptism. The Catechism teaches that Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from the devil, and that in it the candidate explicitly renounces Satan before professing the faith (CCC 1237). So every Catholic renunciation prayer is, at heart, a return to that day: a renewal of your baptismal promises.

The old Roman ritual asked three questions, and to each the catechumen answered with a single word: Abrenuntias Satanae? Abrenuntio. Et omnibus operibus eius? Abrenuntio. Et omnibus pompis eius? Abrenuntio. In English: “Do you renounce Satan? I renounce him. And all his works? I renounce them. And all his pomps? I renounce them.” Today’s rite has changed the form of the questions, not their substance: you turn from sin, from the pull of evil and from Satan, and then you profess the faith. Every year, at the Easter Vigil, the whole Church renews these promises together.

Two movements, always together. The Fathers of the Church spoke of two gestures. First, turning away: in the fourth century St. Cyril of Jerusalem reminded the newly baptized that they had faced west and renounced Satan as though he stood before them; then they turned east, toward Christ (Mystagogical Catechesis I, 2 and 9). In the Byzantine rite, to this day, the candidate renounces three times and three times declares that he unites himself to Christ.

Jesus explained why the second gesture cannot be left out. In the parable of the house swept clean and left empty, the spirit that went out comes back with seven others worse than itself, because it found the place unoccupied (Mt 12:43-45). To renounce without uniting yourself to Christ is to leave the house empty. That is why the prayer at the top of this page never ends on “I renounce”: it ends on “I unite myself to You, O Christ”.

A lay renunciation has clear limits, and they are there to protect you. AngelGuard’s teaching on renunciation puts it in one line: the first person is the limit. I renounce, over my own life, the doors I opened, and I ask God to act.

What you may renounce, in your own name:

• personal sins you consented to;
• occult practices: fortune-tellers, tarot, Ouija boards, spells, séances, consulting spirits, which the Catechism treats as sins against the first commandment (CCC 2116-2117);
• habits of sexual sin you accepted;
• habits and wounds that run in the family, insofar as they touch your own life (the guilt of the parents does not pass to the children, Ez 18:20);
• words spoken against yourself, such as “I’m hopeless” or “God has abandoned me”;
• unforgiveness, naming the person.

What a layperson does not do:

• speak to demons, give them orders, bind them or ask their names;
• renounce on behalf of another adult: each person withdraws his or her own consent;
• lead “deliverance sessions” over someone else, even when that person asks;
• use the exorcism of Leo XIII or any other exorcism formula. In 1985 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked bishops to see that the faithful do not use that formula, and that people without the faculty do not lead gatherings with prayers that address demons directly or try to learn their names (letter Inde ab aliquot annis, September 29, 1985).

None of this stops anyone praying for others. You can always ask God for a son, a husband or a friend, even without their knowing: see the Catholic deliverance prayer, which asks God to restrain evil around you and those in your care. You may also ask God’s blessing on your own home. What is not the layperson’s to do is act with authority over another adult’s spiritual life.

The prayer takes a few minutes. The most important work comes before it: knowing exactly what you are going to renounce.

1. Choose one door. A vague renunciation says nothing. “I renounce sin” is too general. “I renounce the reading I had with a psychic in 2019” or “I renounce the pornography I have accepted since I was a teenager” is specific. Say what it was, and when, if you know. One door today; tomorrow, if need be, another. An examination of conscience helps you find it.

2. Be still and make the sign of the cross. If you have holy water, use it. Silence your notifications.

3. Renew your baptismal promises. The first lines of the prayer tell Jesus whose side you are on.

4. Name the door and say “I renounce this” three times. Three times, like the three questions of Baptism. It is not a magic formula: the repetition helps the will say in full what the mouth says. If you can, pray aloud and slowly.

5. Ask Christ to act. The heart of the prayer is a request: cut away, close, fill. The one who cuts, closes and fills is the Lord. You decree nothing: you have already renounced, and now you ask.

6. Unite yourself to Christ three times. “And I unite myself to You, O Christ. To You alone. Now and for ever.” Do not shorten this part: it is what fills the house.

7. Bring the same thing to Confession. See the next section.

The renunciation prayer tells God what you want to leave behind. Confession is where Christ answers. Through the sacrament of Penance sin is forgiven and the penitent is restored to God’s grace and friendship (CCC 1468). That is why the prayer asks: “lead me to a good confession”. Renunciation does not replace the sacrament; it prepares the way to it.

In practice. If the door you named is a grave sin, an occult practice or a consented sexual sin for example, it needs to be confessed (CCC 1457). If you are not sure whether it was grave, bring it anyway: the priest will help you discern. Take what you have just renounced to Confession this same week. You do not need to tell the priest the prayer you prayed: it is enough to confess the sin sincerely, with sorrow and the intention to change. The Act of Contrition can be prayed before you go in.

Sins that are not grave can be brought to Confession too, and the Church recommends it (CCC 1458). People who go often find that many doors are closed there, quietly, by the mercy of God.

The renunciation prayer is for the ordinary spiritual combat that every Christian lives. If something does not give way, even after renunciation and Confession, or if what you are going through goes far beyond ordinary temptation, see a Catholic priest, ideally your own parish priest. He knows how to listen, how to discern and, if it comes to that, how to speak to the diocesan exorcist.

Do not diagnose yourself. Having sinned, having been to a fortune-teller or feeling afraid does not mean you are possessed. Possession is rare, and it is the Church who discerns it, through a priest, not the person concerned and not a video online. For almost everyone the path is this: renounce, go to Confession, and return to daily prayer.

Exorcism is something else. The Catechism explains that exorcism is the Church asking publicly and authoritatively, in the name of Jesus Christ, that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion. In a simple form it is already part of Baptism; a solemn exorcism can be performed only by a priest with the bishop’s permission (CCC 1673). The Code of Canon Law says the same (c. 1172). No layperson’s prayer, on this page or any other, takes the place of the exorcist.

Body and soul. The same paragraph of the Catechism asks for prudence: before thinking of the Evil One’s action, it must be established that one is not dealing with an illness, especially a psychological one, which is a matter for medicine (CCC 1673). Seeing a doctor is not a lack of faith.

Without obsession. Renunciation is one part of Catholic life, not the whole of it. The Mass, Confession, the Rosary, the works of mercy and daily prayer protect the soul too. Be wary of anyone who charges for deliverance, who sees demons everywhere, or who says a prayer must be repeated longer and louder each time for it to count.