“The ‘devil’s craftsmen’ work on the margins of society but belong to the elite”

Don Aldo Buonaiuto

Topics of great relevance and pastoral urgency those addressed in Seminar of the International Association of Exorcists (AIE) held at the Fraterna Domus of Sacrofano (Rome) from 30 August to 1 September lastby title The challenge to the Christian faith of occultism in today’s society. The role of the Exorcist Priests.

Almost three years after the last National Conference of the IEA, this was, after the pause imposed by the pandemic, the first important moment of confrontation “in presence” between the Italian members of the Association founded in 1991, whose legal personality is was recognized by the Holy See in 2014 and which brings together, in Italy and in the world, about 800 between priests, Exorcists and auxiliaries. Since, alongside ongoing formation, one of the purposes of the IEA is to encourage meetings between Exorcists so that they can share the experiences of the ministry conferred on them, the Seminar held in Sacrofano constituted in the auspices of the President of the International Association of Exorcists father Francesco Bamonte, a significant opportunity for meeting and reflection.

To open the work of the Seminar, moderated by Alberto Castaldini, journalist and university professor, was the President of the AIE, Father Francesco Bamonte, author of numerous volumes on demonological topics and exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, who, after the introductory greeting, presented the report: Aleister Crowley’s religion and its influence in today’s society. The picture outlined by the intervention of Father Bamonte, who in terms of development and contents constitutes a rich and articulated essay, offered a complete exposition not only of the personal story of the British esotericist, occultist and Satanist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), but also of the intertwining, of the affinities and, above all, of the worrying relevance of the blasphemous contents he proposed during his transgressive existence.

In the afternoon session of the first day of the seminar he spoke Don Aldo Buonaiuto, of the Association Community Pope John XXIII, essayist, editor of the online newspaper “In Terris” and exorcist. The title of his report The devil’s craftsmen. Today’s means of which occultism uses, has effectively taken up in part that of a recent volume, prefaced by the Secretary of State Card. Pietro Parolin. Don Buonaiuto has been fighting a battle against sects on the front line for years, and his Association, founded by Don Oreste Benzi who had the providential intuition, established in 2002 a Anti-cult service which broke the embarrassing silence of suffering and silence that had been resisting for decades. In recent years, the Service has taken action against the phenomenon of occult and satanic sects, which sowed victims by creating new forms of slavery in our society. In this way, through a national toll-free number (800228866), the Service has collected daily requests for help from all over Italy, giving hope and courage, through accompanying, even spiritual, to the victims of these groups and their families. Not only. The Anti-Cult Service has been collaborating since 2006 also with precise reports, with the SAS (Anti-Cult Squad) investigation group of the State Police. The collaboration between the John XXIII Community Association and the International Association of Exorcists is also consolidated. The activities also include public awareness and information about this tragic phenomenon, rooted and widespread, which Don Buonaiuto has been analyzing for years thanks to his ministerial and pastoral experience.

The “devil’s craftsmen” – explained the speaker in his timely speech – operate on the margins of society but in reality they often belong to the world of professions, to the ruling classes (in the south of Italy the gurus abound, in the center-north their organization is greater and more developed). In real life the followers are perhaps unsuspected. The victims of these sectarian groups drag those around them, their families into ruin: the goal of the sects is in fact the exploitation of the other for their own exclusive advantage and, finally, their destruction. And whoever rebels becomes a person on the run: if he has finally found the courage to tell his story about him, if he finally feels believed, he will no longer feel trapped. The greatest danger is instead loneliness, isolation, silence.

Don Buonaiuto, appointed missionary of Mercy in 2016 by Pope Francis, recalled like anyone who can fall into the traps of sects, even those who live consolidated paths of faith: no one is immune. Therefore it is a phenomenon that should not be underestimated and which confirms – he stressed – how the AIE is a gift of the Spirit so that the exorcist priest does not feel alone in his ministry.



The second day of the AIE Seminar opened by further focusing on the phenomenon of magical practices and Satanism in contemporary society with the relationship of Beatrice Ugolini, lecturer in occult-esoteric language at the master’s degree in Criminology at the Niccolò Cusano University of Rome. The scholar spoke on the subject Contemporary Practices of Magic and Satanism: Man Who Wants to Become “God” and he exhibited a picture of the most widespread ritual actions, especially among young people, illustrating their characteristics and symbolic images. There was no shortage of references to the twentieth century past (the secret rituals of the SS led by Himmler, esoteric circles such as the Thule Society) and to the present, with a reference to the Russia-Ukraine war. In fact, Ukrainian regiments are active that make use of specific tattoos of esoteric meaning, inspired by Nazism and its occult components. Also in Russia, however, the conflict has taken on an esoteric value: there are military units that, here too, sympathize with occult neo-Nazism or that belong to Slavic neo-paganism.

In the afternoon the Franciscan father Mario Mingardi, friar minor conventual, diocesan exorcist at the Basilica of Sant’Antonio in Padua, presented an intervention of stringent and urgent pastoral relevance: The world of youth and its “close encounters” with Satan. The speaker specified that, with regard to the difficulties of young people, the culprit should not be sought, because adolescence is a time of choices and crisis, which also asks adults questions about their responsibilities. Teenagers upload their imagination, a place where they think and recover actions. How do adults contribute to this place? Just think of music, TV series, movies, cartoons, manga, anime: black, blood, horror, violence, messages that invite the use of substances, suicide, self-harm. The task of adults is instead to indicate masters, values ​​and meanings. Father Mingardi then described the experience lived daily in the “Domus Familiae Padre Daniele” family home in Sarmeola (Padua).

The start of the third and final day of the AIE Seminar was dedicated to the Association, with an assessment of its activities, the steps taken and the new upcoming goals, entrusted to Father Bamonte. At the first International Congress of Exorcists in the history of the Church, held in Ariccia in 1994 on the initiative of Don Gabriele Amorth And father René Chenesseau, 81 priests participated. Three years earlier, at the call of the first meeting (then reserved for Italian Exorcists only), 12 had answered. Today the numbers are very different and exceed the hundreds, but this ministry is so important in bringing help and consolation to the tormented children of God from the evil one requires ever greater forces. Also for this reason, the AIE guarantees with its activity a permanent formation for Priests, Exorcists and lay Auxiliaries. Specifically, Father Bamonte announced that from next October the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome has offered the Association eight hours of lectures on the ministry of exorcism during a course on issues related to the spread of Satanism in society. The AIE President then hoped that in 2023 the traditional face-to-face conferences (suspended from 2020) could finally be resumed, even with confreres of other nationalities, due to the pandemic.

The international conference is expected to take place in 2023, within which there will also be the elective assembly. Also expected to be held in the presence, in May 2023, of the First Italian National Convention of the lay auxiliaries of the Exorcists ein June 2023, of the Seventh Basic Course on the Ministry of Exorcisms.

Don Matteo De Meo, exorcist of the Diocese of San Severo (Foggia), councilor and formator of the AIE, he in turn gave a significant report on the topic The role of the exorcist priest in the challenge of occultism to the Christian faith. De Meo highlighted how occultism currently represents one of the most important challenges to the Christian faith. The category of “challenge” refers to two fundamental attitudes: that of “vigilance” and that of “knowledge” of those causes that are at the origin and feed a particular phenomenon. With a reality, even the most complicated and distant one, one must know how to enter into “dialogue”. Specifically in occultism, Don De Meo pointed out, we certainly do not have to dialogue with its magical-esoteric contents – which we must know and fight – but with the inner malaise that leads the person to desire that reality and to feed on it in various ways, “Trapping” in a thick spider web. This is the consequence of a superstitious mentality that should not be underestimated – you have stressed several times -, which feeds an attitude that progressively disrupts personal life with serious spiritual, psychological and even physical consequences. For this reason, dialogue with malaise, at the origin of “magical” thought, coincides with listening and accompaniment to be implemented on the level of “religious feeling”: an accompaniment aimed at the person, who knows how to recover an authentic religious attitude , unfortunately “usurped” by the superstitious one.

To be effective, the challenge must be developed on several levels: religious, educational, psychological, social. In this scenario the role of the Exorcists becomes central. For their ministry, in the light of their experience, they can sensitize pastors and set up observers at the diocesan, interparochial level. Places to do a first work of dialogue and study with a limited number of people, victims of occultism, and try to recover them. This naturally involves the preparation of pastoral workers from various fields, spreading as much as possible the knowledge of the studies of these phenomena. Finally, Don De Meo also recalled the youth theme.

The Seminar ended in the afternoon of September 1st with the absolute preview screening of the documentary film “Free nos. The Triumph over Evil “ of directors and producers Giovanni Ziberna and Valeria Baldan.

“The ‘devil’s craftsmen’ work on the margins of society but belong to the elite”