DEMONS BEGONE

Protest-Related Exorcisms Are Up in the U.S.: Report

The devil-expulsion rites were uncommon. Then two archbishops conducted them in October.

Exorcisms are back in vogue, according an Associated Press report. Two U.S. archbishops have conducted the purported demon-cleansing in recent months—an unusual move, according to scholars of religion. Both exorcisms had political overtones, and came in response to racial justice protests. One, conducted by an archbishop in Portland, Oregon, saw approximately 200 people gather in a park on Oct. 17 to purge the area of evil following months of protracted civil unrest and police violence. A second exorcism that day, in San Francisco, sought to cleanse the area and “the hearts” of people who toppled the statue of an 18th Century priest, whom critics accuse of forcing Native Americans to convert to Catholicism. Although people who are not Catholic priests have recently popularized exorcisms around the world, the practice is uncommon among high-ranking Catholic clergy, one expert told the AP. He noted that the only other similar instance recently was a 2015 rite, in which clergy in Mexico attempted to expel demons from the country following a series of violent events.