c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Michael W. Cuneo would be happy to answer a few questions about exorcism, but first the Fordham University sociologist wants to know what’s going on. He’s been out of town and returned to his office to find his answering machine clogged with questions about exorcism.

A surge in demonic possessions? Possibly. But probably just a surge in media interest sparked by the re-release this week of “The Exorcist,” William Friedkin’s 1973 film inspired by a real-life exorcism of a 13-year-old boy.

The re-release of the movie comes on the heels of news reports that Pope John Paul II performed an exorcism on a 19-year-old Italian woman earlier this month. The Rev. Gabriele Amorth, official exorcist of the Rome diocese, told Catholic News Service the pope had spent 30 minutes praying with the woman, whom Amorth has tried to exorcise twice. So far, Amorth said, the woman has experienced only temporary relief from “a terrible case of demonic possession.”

After years in which the official church didn’t speak much about demons, possession or the centuries-old rite of exorcism _ the process of expelling demons from a person, place or thing _ John Paul II has been forthright about the practice. He has publicly denounced the devil as a “cosmic liar and murderer,” overseen the first revisions in the church’s official rite of exorcism in three centuries and taken part in exorcisms himself. Now, the re-release of “The Exorcist” promises to revive popular interest in the relatively obscure practice and raise concerns about its misuse.

Which might explain all the messages on Cuneo’s answering machine. Cuneo is emerging as an expert on exorcism in the United States. In the past two years, he has attended about 50 exorcisms, conducted in a variety of circumstances and settings. He witnessed both officially sanctioned and “underground” exorcisms conducted by Catholics and Protestants. Earlier this month he delivered a manuscript containing his findings to Doubleday, which plans to publish “American Exorcism” in fall 2001.

“I did not see any spinning heads or levitating bodies,” Cuneo said. “But there were times when I was the only person in the room who didn’t see these things.” Pressed for details, he refused to elaborate. No trespassing on his book, he insisted. But he’s more than happy to talk about “The Exorcist.”

Cuneo expects the film to increase popular demand for exorcisms, just as it did the first time it hit movie theaters. But he sees no reliable way to measure that demand.

“The kind of exorcism in hottest demand is an official Catholic one,” he said, “but they are hard to get.” Most dioceses do not have designated exorcists, and church law requires an extensive investigation before a bishop can authorize an exorcism.

The result, Cuneo says, is a growing demand for unofficial, or underground, exorcisms. “It’s impossible to know precisely how many have been performed.”

In a new introduction to his 1976 book, “Hostage to the Devil,” Malachi Martin estimates the number of exorcisms performed rose 750 percent from the early 1960s to the middle 1970s. In the 1990s, the late Jesuit scholar wrote, between 800 and 1,300 major exorcisms were performed each year, along with thousands of minor exorcisms. Martin did not distinguish between official and unofficial exorcisms.

“In North America and Europe, the official rite of exorcism is uncommon,” said the Rev. Richard Berg, a Holy Cross priest who is pastor of Downtown Chapel in Portland, Ore., and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Portland.

He differentiates between formal exorcism and “deliverance ministry.” The latter involves praying for protection and safety of people from evil spirits and is common, especially among charismatic groups, he said.

“Before anyone would qualify for an exorcism, it would be mandatory to rule out physical and emotional or mental causes of the problems,” he said. “The first thing I would do is rule out any physical reason for whatever was happening, any medical _ including psychiatric or psychological _ factors, before we would even go forward with an exorcism.”

In 95 percent of cases, Berg said, the problems prove to be due to an illness or to environmental factors.

“I had a case where some people were having their house haunted,” he said. “When they prayed, the house was filled with scary noises. We had a contractor check the house and it turned out to be that the problem was focused where the cold water comes into the hot water system.”

The church reserves its rite of exorcism as a last resort.

“There could be occasions when it would be helpful or necessary,” Berg said, “but those are rare.”

In January 1999, the Vatican released the first revisions in the rite of exorcism since 1614. The new rite stresses that evil is a powerful reality but warns exorcists not to mistake psychiatric illness for demonic possession.

It is a warning the Rev. Joseph Mahoney hopes all priests will heed. Mahoney is a chaplain of the Archdiocese of Detroit who ministers to victims of abuse and works with people suffering from multiple personality disorder. Mahoney, who maintains a Web site dedicated to his work (http://www.jmahoney.com), admits there may be times when exorcism is warranted. But he worries that, to the inexperienced eye, symptoms of mental illness might look like demonic possession.

“Things that are not considered `an ordinary part of human life’ or `part of the natural order’ may simply be outside the experience of the evaluator,” Mahoney said.

DEA END HAUGHT