My life as an exorcist: ‘I have been spat at, punched, choked, bitten and kicked by demons'
It is one of cinema's most iconic images. The silhouette of a priest in a black fedora hat and overcoat, armed with a black briefcase, paused in the eerie foggy light of a streetlamp. He cuts a solitary figure. An exorcist about to tackle paranormal horror in the house before him. But this evocative portrayal in 'the scariest film ever made' does not match the reality today according to Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, an American Catholic priest, who is a licensed psychologist and an exorcist.
'The old idea of an exorcist being a single guy walking in with his black suitcase: those days are over,' he told Review in Knock last weekend. These days, exorcists work as part of a team. 'We have psychologists. We have medical doctors. We have clinicians. We have tough guys to pull the person down and someone who deals with the person outside the session.'
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Sarah Mac Donald meets leading exorcist Stephen Rossetti as he is mobbed by the faithful at Knock. Spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness can involve vomiting, levitation, growling voices and flying objects It is one of cinema's most iconic images. The silhouette of a priest in a black fedora hat and overcoat, armed with a black briefcase, paused in the eerie foggy light of a streetlamp. He cuts a solitary figure. An exorcist about to tackle paranormal horror in the house before him. But this evocative portrayal in 'the scariest film ever made' does not match the reality today according to Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, an American Catholic priest, who is a licensed psychologist and an exorcist. 'The old idea of an exorcist being a single guy walking in with his black suitcase: those days are over,' he told Review in Knock last weekend. These days, exorcists work as part of a team. 'We have psychologists. We have medical doctors. We have clinicians. We have tough guys to pull the person down and someone who deals with the person outside the session.'
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