DEMONIC POSSESSIONS TRIPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com

MANILA (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Church in the Philippines needs more exorcists — this according to the archdiocese of Manila, which is reporting a “three-fold” rise in claims of demonic possessions.

“These days we have around 80 to 100 cases at any given time,” says Father Jose Francisco Syquia, the chief exorcist at the archdiocese’s Office of Exorcism.

The sudden increase in cases of possession has stretched the country’s few exorcists thin and, according to Fr. Syquia, most Philippine dioceses do not have in-house exorcists. As a result many of the faithful are turning to “healers and occult practitioners” in the hopes of curing the afflicted.

This route, however, only attracts the demonic and exacerbates the problem, says Fr. Syquia. By the time the exorcists from the archdiocese of Manila are able to see people, the victims are in bad shape.

Earlier this year the archdiocesan exorcism office entreated the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to assign at least one priest trained in the rite of exorcism in each of the country’s 86 dioceses. The conference eagerly supported the proposition, but concerns were raised as to how such a mass influx of new exorcists would be trained. Click here to read the rest of this story at Churchmilitant.com