{"id":16008,"date":"2016-09-16T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91-29963\/"},"modified":"2016-09-16T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T22:30:00","slug":"romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Rome’s exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with \u201cgreat affection and gratitude,\u201d SIR News reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he rests from his many battles with the devil,\u201d Spanish theologian Father Jose Antonio Fortea told CNA Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

The priest first met Father Amorth in 1995 during theological studies about exorcisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis doors were open for me and for all priests. There were no mysteries or grandstanding. I could see his work and his simplicity,\u201d Fr. Fortea said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis strong, vigorous voice spoke to millions of people about the action of the devil,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe alone, one person, managed to revitalize the ministry in one country and then his influence reached everywhere in the Church. The means to achieve this was simply to tell what he had seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Amorth was born in Modena in northern Italy on May 1, 1925.\u00a0 He entered the mother house of the Congregation of the Society of St. Paul in Alba in August 1947, five years after meeting its founder, Blessed James Alberione. He was ordained a priest on Jan. 24, 1951.<\/p>\n

In 1985, Cardinal Ugo Poletti, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, appointed him exorcist of the diocese.\u00a0 He performed an estimated 70,000 exorcisms, often repeating the rite on the same persons.<\/p>\n

Father Amorth drew much publicity for his books explaining his work and his public statements on the demonic.<\/p>\n

In an April 2015 Facebook post, he attributed the Islamic State group to demonic influence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cISIS is Satan. Things first happen in the spiritual realms, then they are made concrete on this earth,\u201d he said. He added that evil is \u201cdisguised\u201d in various political, cultural and religious ways, with one source of inspiration in the devil.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Christian I fight the beast spiritually,\u201d Fr. Amorth said. \u201cBiblically speaking we are in the last days and the beast is working furiously.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May 2013, he told CNA<\/a> that Pope Francis had performed an exorcism in St. Peter\u2019s Square on a man said to be possessed, using a prayer of liberation instead of the ordinary rite.<\/p>\n

Some of the priest\u2019s statements did not go unchallenged. When his memoirs were released in 2010, he claimed that there are \u201cmembers of Satanic sects\u201d in the Vatican, including priests, monsignors and cardinals. Fr. Amorth said the Pope at the time, Benedict XVI, \u201cdoes what he can\u201d against such groups.<\/p>\n

Fr. Fortea himself questioned the claim, saying some exorcists agreed with Fr. Amorth about the Vatican sects, while others did not.<\/p>\n

Fr. Amorth held numerous positions in the Society of St. Paul, including aspirant director, high school teacher, delegate of the Italian province, and spiritual director of various lay institutes. He was also a journalist. For many years he directed the monthly \u201cMother of God\u201d and worked with the group Famiglia Cristiana and Radio Maria.<\/p>\n

He was the author of several books and founded the International Association of Exorcists.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 8, 2015 the Prefect of Rome, Paola Basilone, in the presence of Italy\u2019s defense minister Roberta Pinotti, awarded Fr. Amorth the Medal of Liberation for his important role in the partisan struggle in Italy during the Second World War.<\/p>\n

The priest had been hospitalized for several weeks for lung complications.<\/p>\n

Fr. Fortea last saw Fr. Amorth in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis character had not changed. So close to ninety years and still doing exorcisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nRome's exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91. Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rome's exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91. Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-16T22:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Fr_Gabriele_Amorth_chief_exorcist_of_Rome_speaks_to_CNA_on_May_22_2013_Credit_Stephan_Driscoll_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/\",\"name\":\"Rome's exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-16T22:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-16T22:30:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91. Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rome’s exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rome's exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91","description":"Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91. Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rome's exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91","og_description":"Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91. Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2016-09-16T22:30:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/size340\/Fr_Gabriele_Amorth_chief_exorcist_of_Rome_speaks_to_CNA_on_May_22_2013_Credit_Stephan_Driscoll_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/","name":"Rome's exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-16T22:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-16T22:30:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2016 \/ 04:30 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Father Gabriel Amorth, the exorcist of the Diocese of Rome who drew worldwide attention, died on Friday at the age of 91. Leaders of the Society of St. Paul remembered him with “great affect...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/09\/romes-exorcist-father-gabriel-amorth-dies-at-age-91\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rome’s exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth, dies at age 91"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}