Question Corner: How does someone become an exorcist today?

Q: I heard that in the old days, seminarians were instituted as exorcists as part of “minor orders.” How does someone become an exorcist today? Is there some sort of special ceremony or liturgy?

A: The short answer is no, there is not a special liturgical ritual for becoming an exorcist. A priest-exorcist is simply appointed to this role by the local bishop.

But to parse this out in a more in-depth way, we can start by recalling that the ministry of exorcism most properly belongs to the diocesan bishop. As a successor to the original Twelve Apostles, bishops continue Christ’s saving mission in the world through teaching the faith, governing the people of God, administering the sacraments and leading the faithful in prayer.

Pertinent to this conversation, Christ’s ministry when he walked the earth involved not only preaching, healing illnesses and forgiving sins, but also notably included casting out demons. There are many places in the Gospel where Jesus entrusts this latter work to his apostles. For example, St. Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus “summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” (Lk 9:1).

A diocesan bishop is assisted in his apostolic ministry by the priests of his diocese. And so, even though we have some extraordinary historical instances of great lay saints casting out demons, one key prerequisite to serving an exorcist today is ordination to the priesthood.

In fact, the most recent version of our rite of exorcism states that: “A Priest to whom the office of Exorcist has been committed, either stably or for a particular occasion, is to carry out this work of charity with confidence and humility under the direction of the Diocesan Bishop. In this book when the word ‘Exorcist’ is used, a ‘Priest Exorcist’ is always to be understood.”

Incidentally, all priests routinely carry out “minor exorcisms,” which are, as per the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website, “prayers used to break the influence of evil and sin in a person’s life.” Prayers of minor exorcism are standard components to the ritual for baptizing infants and for welcoming adult converts into the Church.

On the other hand, a major exorcism is an “exorcism” according to the more common and popular meaning of the term — as in, a series of liturgical prayers for casting out literal demons from actually possessed persons.

The ability to carry out a major exorcism is technically what we call a “faculty,” or the permission a bishop gives to a qualified cleric under his authority to administer the sacraments or carry out some other particular task. To give a more familiar and less dramatic example, the ability to impart absolution in the sacrament of confession is also a faculty that a bishop gives to his priests.

Canon 1172 of the Code of Canon Law directly references this faculty when it states that “No one may lawfully exorcise the possessed without the special and express permission of the local Ordinary (i.e., the diocesan bishop or his Vicar General).”

This same canon goes on to tell us: “This permission is to be granted by the local Ordinary only to a priest who is endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life.”

So from this we can observe that even if there is no special process for becoming an exorcist, there are certainly some fundamental qualifications that are needed. Additionally, the introduction to the current right of exorcism also describes the priest-exorcist as one “who has been specifically prepared for this office,” which suggests at least some level of specialized practical training.

Still, the fact that an exorcist is ultimately just a priest with a special faculty tells us something important about this ministry. An exorcist is not able to liberate the possessed because of any personal gifts or talent on the priest-exorcist’s own part, but rather because he “taps into” the authority of Christ himself.

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