The exorcism business is booming, reports the
Washington Post
, under a Pope who is a fervent believer in the power of Satanic forces. Demonic possession is all about the growling, explains one expert:
“Two lesbians,” he said, had sat behind him on the plane. Soon afterward, he said, he felt Satan’s presence. As he silently sought to repel the evil spirit through prayer, one of the women, he said, began growling demonically and threw chocolates at his head.
Asked how he knew the woman was possessed, he said that “once you hear a Satanic growl, you never forget it. It’s like smelling Margherita pizza for the first time. It’s something you never forget.”
Clearly I lack Rev. Truqui’s Proustian sensibilities, having no idea of the smell of my first Margherita.
The rest of the article is good, but seems determined to contrast Francis’ progressive reputation with his “old school” views of the devil. Perhaps it’s my near-total ignorance of Catholic doctrine, but I don’t see the problem here. There is little interaction between how you see the devil and how you deal with poverty, homosexuality, etc.