For those who cast doubt as to whether demon possession really exists in individuals, you might want to think again. This may sound like a scene right out of the movie, “The Exorcist,” but indeed, it was real, an Italian priest says.
The London Daily Mail recently reported that a “possessed” woman underwent a lengthy exorcism after she attacked an Italian priest during confession and began speaking in different voices and languages, including Latin.
The news outlet reported that the 28-year-old woman, who accompanied family members to the Church of Saint Mary of Mount Berico in Vicenza, northern Italy, reportedly began to scream and swear inside the Catholic church at around 11 a.m. Sunday morning. She ran through the church’s ground-floor confession rooms, slapped her mother and attacked the priest running confession, witnesses say.
Immediately, three friars within the church intervened and held a nine-hour exorcism for the woman, whom the friars claimed “was possessed by the devil,” according to the Daily Mail report. The exorcism lasted until 8:30 p.m. after the woman collapsed and was taken home by her parents and younger brother, local media reported.
Father Guiseppe Bernardi, the so-called “Exorcist of Monte Berico,” led the exorcism along with two other church brothers. The Daily Mail reported that witnesses called local police and ambulance services to alert them to the situation, but authorities were said to have remained outside the church.
“It was a real possession and it was only in the evening that the situation was resolved, when the girl physically collapsed,” Father Rossato, a priest at the church told local media.
Ilgiornaledicenza.it reported (in Italian) that the woman’s mother took her to confession because she believed there was a “demonic influence” behind her daughter’s violent behavior. Her father reportedly believed she was suffering from a psychiatric disorder. {eoa}
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