In the Vatican, the views on the rite of exorcism were completely revised. The definition of the need for a ceremony has also changed.
How to determine if a person is possessed by an evil spirit or is he mentally unwell?
At all times, the rite of expulsion of evil spirits was considered one of the most important missions of the Catholic Church. There are even references to exorcism in the Bible - Jesus saved the possessed from evil spirits several times. Later, the apostles did this, and then the priests.
In the Vatican, they say that earlier it was easy to imitate an obsession with evil spirits, a person could fool relatives and priests for years. Aggression, profanity and display of hatred for Christian attributes were automatically ranked among the main signs of obsession.
Now, in order not to write as the possessed everyone who flinches at the sight of Christian symbols, priests are behaving more carefully to clearly define who is possessed, who is a fake, and who is mentally ill.
From now on, priests consult with psychiatrists, and only then perform the exorcism ceremony. Before getting to the exorcist priest, the patient is under medical supervision for a long time. Thus, it has become extremely difficult to imitate possession by evil spirits.
One of the ways to find out whether a demon has possessed a person, say the representatives of the Catholic Church, is to talk to the patient in an unknown, preferably ancient language. This method was proposed by doctors only ten years ago. If a person can answer, he is possessed. The possessed also demonstrate unprecedented physical strength.
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The clergy claim that possessed people can know in detail the information that they could only get from the demon. Thus, these methods are really effective. True, the Vatican does not exclude that there may be mistakes. After all, evil spirits have high intelligence, and they can deceive doctors and clergy, so that the rite of exorcism is not carried out.
Also, priests ask people who consider themselves possessed not to undergo the rite of exorcism. Indeed, just in this case, when a person believes that a demon has possessed him, the most difficult thing is to separate mental illness from obsession.
Throughout the history of the Catholic Church, exorcism has remained unchanged, but now in the church they say differently: “the mind is not possessed by evil forces, but the human body. As long as the body is under the control of the devil, the mind cannot resist it."
It is also worth recalling that the Catholic Church's description of a demon-possessed person differs from the medical descriptions of the symptoms of mental disorders.