ROME (RNN) – The Vatican is planning to equip priests to fight spiritual warfare after an alarming rise of people reporting demonic possessions in Italy.
The church will host a week-long seminar from April 16 to 21 to train young priests to perform exorcisms as the demand for them has tripled to an estimated 500,000, according to experts.
The international gathering is dubbed, the "first in the world," and speakers will include leading experts in exorcism including Father Cesare Truqui, a pupil of the great exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, according to a release by the church.
Amorth is claimed to have performed nearly 50,000 exorcisms lasting from several minutes to hours, during his time as a priest.
“Of course, not all cases are of diabolical possession, some are related to psychiatric disorders, but there is no doubt, the real phenomenon is very strong, ” said Friar Benigno Palilla, who is also an exorcist.
Palilla said self-taught exorcists tend to error when performing the ritual.
The seminar will be held at the at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, a Catholic educational institute in Rome.
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