The EWTN News portal (via its Portuguese sister service ACI Digital) reports on a “Symposium on Demonology and Exorcism” held August 18–19, 2026, at the “Catholic College of Fortaleza” in Brazil, organized by the “Marian Community Oasis of Peace” with the support of the “Archdiocese of Fortaleza.” The event, coordinated by “Father” Diogo Jairo Rebouças, “exorcist for the Diocese of Limoeiro do Norte,” drew 240 participants, 76% of whom were laymen. Speakers included “Bishop” André Vital, several “exorcist priests” affiliated with the “International Association of Exorcists (AIE),” a medical doctor, and a psychologist. The symposium emphasized “theological affirmation of the devil’s existence,” “discernment between genuine demonic activity and mental illness,” “moral certainty” before exorcism, collaboration with healthcare professionals, and the AIE’s guidelines restricting solemn exorcism to priests “duly appointed by the bishop.” This gathering manifests the conciliar sect’s capitulation to naturalism, its usurpation of the Church’s immutable exorcistic tradition, and the functional nullity of its pseudo-sacramental ministry.
The Usurpation of Jurisdiction and the Nullity of Conciliar “Exorcisms”
The article speaks blithely of “bishops,” “priests,” and “exorcists” appointed by the “Archdiocese of Fortaleza” and the “Diocese of Limoeiro do Norte.” From the perspective of integral Catholic theology, these titles are vacuous. The men exercising them derive their orders from the Novus Ordo Missae and the Pontificale Romanum of 1968—rites deliberately stripped of the forma substantialis required for the sacrament of Holy Orders. As Pope Leo XIII defined in Apostolicae Curae (1896), “the sacraments of the New Law… must signify the grace which they effect.” The Paul VI rites, by suppressing the essential signification of the priesthood (the power to offer the Propitiatory Sacrifice and to forgive sins), render the ordinations irritae et inanes—null and void. Consequently, the “exorcists” presented in this symposium possess no jurisdiction and no sacramental character. They are laymen in vestments, simulating the Church’s ministry.
The traditional rite of exorcism, codified in the Rituale Romanum (1614, last revised 1952), is a sacramental of the Church, efficacious ex opere operantis Ecclesiae through the Church’s intercession and the priest’s delegated authority. It requires a validly ordained priest with explicit faculties from a legitimate Ordinary. Since the last legitimate Pope was Pius XII (d. 1958), and the See of Peter has been vacant since (Sedevacantism), there are no legitimate Ordinaries in the conciliar structures. The “appointment by the bishop” cited by Rebouças is therefore a juridical nullity. As St. Robert Bellarmine teaches (De Romano Pontifice), a manifest heretic loses all jurisdiction ipso facto; the conciliar “bishops,” by their public adhesion to the heresies of Vatican II (religious liberty, ecumenism, collegiality), are not even members of the Church, let alone its rulers. Their “exorcisms” are theatrical performances, devoid of supernatural efficacy.
Psychologization of the Demonic: The Triumph of Naturalism
The symposium’s central theme—”discernment between psychiatric pathologies and possible spiritual phenomena”—reveals the Modernist infection at its core. The article quotes Rebouças: “It is certainly not the exorcist’s role to provide a psychiatric diagnosis… nor is it the role of scientists to say whether the devil exists or not.” This false equivalence subordinates the preternatural to the natural, making the demonic a diagnosis of exclusion rather than a theological reality known by faith. The Rituale Romanum knows no such “collaboration with mental health professionals.” It prescribes the signs of possession: speaking unknown languages, revealing hidden things, strength beyond nature, aversion to the sacred. The priest judges these ex fide, not by consulting a psychiatrist.
This psychologization is the direct fruit of the conciliar revolution’s anthropocentric turn. Gaudium et Spes (1965) teaches that “the Church… shares the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of men.” The symposium operationalizes this: the “exorcist” becomes a case manager, the “demonic” a differential diagnosis. The article notes that “highly suggestible individuals become emotionally destabilized during events that strongly appeal to the emotions”—a naturalistic reduction of spiritual warfare to group psychology. The “medical doctor Mauro Martins, also an assistant exorcist,” embodies this synthesis: the white coat alongside the stole, science validating the sacred. This is the synthesis of all heresies condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907): “The Modernist… makes the supernatural depend on the natural.”
The “International Association of Exorcists”: A Novelty Contrary to Tradition
The article repeatedly invokes the “International Association of Exorcists (AIE)” and its “guidelines.” This body, founded in 1990 under the auspices of the conciliar “Cardinal” Jorge Medina Estévez, is a canonical novelty with no precedent in Tradition. The Church for nineteen centuries governed exorcism through the Rituale Romanum and the Decretum of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (1614, 1902, 1952). The AIE’s “guidelines” replace the immutable liturgical law with a bureaucratic protocol: “moral certainty,” “mutual collaboration,” “training sessions for assistant exorcists” open to “laypeople and healthcare professionals.” The article announces the next training at “St. Benedict Monastery in Rio de Janeiro” (a conciliar Benedictine house, not the traditional monastery of the Solesmes congregation).
This democratization of the exorcistic ministry—76% lay participants, “assistant exorcists” including a medical doctor—violates the divine constitution of the Church. The Syllabus of Errors (Pope Pius IX, 1864) condemns the proposition: “The Church is not a true and perfect society… but it appertains to the civil power to define what are the rights of the Church” (Error 19). Here, the “civil power” is the secular psychiatric establishment, and the “Church” is the conciliar sect surrendering its supernatural authority to it. The AIE’s “guidelines” are a lex dubia substituting for the lex certa of the Rituale. As the maxim states: Lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of praying is the law of believing). The conciliar sect’s new rite of exorcism (1999, revised 2004) excises the imperative formulas (“Exorcizo te, immunde spiritus…“) in favor of deprecatory prayers (“We ask you, Lord…“), manifesting a loss of faith in the priest’s authority over demons. The symposium celebrates this enfeeblement.
Reduction of the Church’s Mission to Therapeutic Accompaniment
Rebouças states the symposium’s goal was “to reflect theologically… on the reality of the angelic beings who chose damnation,” not “to provide training for performing exorcisms.” This inversion is telling. The Church’s mission is salus animarum—the salvation of souls through the Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments. Exorcism is a pastoral ministry ordered to that end, restoring the baptized to a state of grace. The conciliar sect reduces it to “pastoral ministry focused on discernment and mercy, rather than fear and sensationalism.” The language is therapeutic, not soteriological. “Fear” (timor Domini) is the beginning of wisdom (Ps 110:10); “sensationalism” is a straw man dismissing the objective reality of diabolical obsession and possession attested by Scripture, the Fathers, and the constant Magisterium.
The article’s anecdote—”a deeply devout but mentally ill believer refuses to take their medication until the priest comforts them by saying, ‘I will bless your medicines!'”—epitomizes the new religion: the priest as chaplain to the pharmaceutical industry, faith as adjuvant to therapy. The “exorcist will never discourage a believer from making use of scientific therapeutic resources.” This is naturalism pure and simple. The Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, can. 5) anathematizes those who deny that the sacraments confer grace ex opere operato. The conciliar “exorcism” confers nothing; it merely “accompanies.” The doctor’s admission—”We have done everything within our power!… This defies scientific explanation!”—is presented as a vindication of the Church’s “explanation.” But the Church’s explanation is not a God of the gaps; it is the dogmatic truth that the devil is a real, personal, malevolent spirit, and the Church has the power to cast him out in nomine Domini. The conciliar sect has lost that power because it has lost the faith.
Silence on Sin, Grace, and the Propitiatory Sacrifice
The gravest accusation is what the article omits. There is no mention of sin as the door to demonic influence, no mention of Confession (the Tribunal of Penance) as the primary remedy, no mention of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the supreme exorcism. The traditional theology teaches that the devil’s power over a soul is proportionate to that soul’s separation from grace. The Rituale directs the exorcist to urge the possessed to sacramental Confession and Holy Communion. The symposium speaks only of “prayer for healing and deliverance,” “deliverance ministry” (a charismatic Protestant import), and “collaboration.” The word “sacrament” appears zero times. “Grace” appears zero times. “Mass” appears zero times. “Repentance” appears zero times.
This silence is the fumus Satanae in the sanctuary. Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas (1925) declares: “If men were ever to recognize Christ’s royal authority over themselves, both privately and publicly, then unheard-of blessings would flow upon the whole society.” The conciliar sect recognizes no royal authority of Christ over the nations, no Social Kingship, no integral Catholic state. Its “exorcism” is a private therapeutic intervention in a secularized world. It cannot cast out the devil from a culture it has already surrendered to him. As Our Lord teaches: “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?” (Mt 12:26). The conciliar sect’s kingdom is the civitas terrena built on religious liberty and human rights; its “exorcisms” are a pantomime to reassure the faithful that something supernatural still occurs in the ruins.
The “Marian Community Oasis of Peace”: Charismatic Chaos as Ecclesial Model
The organizer, the “Marian Community Oasis of Peace,” exemplifies the post-conciliar proliferation of “ecclesial movements” (Communion and Liberation, Focolare, Neocatechumenal Way, Charismatic Renewal) that function as parallel churches, bypassing the parish and the diocesan structure. These movements are characterized by emotionalism, private revelation, and a spirituality centered on “experience” rather than dogma. The symposium’s 76% lay attendance, its focus on “prayer for deliverance” (a charismatic practice distinct from solemn exorcism), and the participation of “assistant exorcists” who are laymen and a doctor, manifest the democratization of the sacred condemned by Pope Pius X in Pascendi: “The Church listening cooperates… with the Church teaching… the Church teaching should only approve the common opinions of the Church listening” (Lamentabili, prop. 6). The “sensus fidelium” replaces the Magisterium; the “community” replaces the hierarchy.
The “Archdiocese of Fortaleza” supports this because the conciliar “bishop” (André Vital) is a functionary of the neo-church, not a successor of the Apostles. His presence legitimates the movement; the movement energizes his “pastoral plan.” It is a closed loop of human fabrication, opus humanum, not opus Dei.
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation in the Holy Place
This symposium is a microcosm of the conciliar apostasy. It presents a false clergy, invalidly ordained, exercising a simulated ministry according to novel guidelines drafted by a private association, in collaboration with secular psychiatry, before a predominantly lay audience, in a “Catholic College” that teaches Modernism, organized by a charismatic movement that substitutes enthusiasm for faith. It affirms the devil’s existence verbally while denying his power operatively by refusing the means Christ gave to overcome him: the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrament of Penance, the Rituale Romanum in the hands of a true priest.
The faithful in Brazil—and everywhere—must flee these structures. Exite ex medio eorum, et separate vos (2 Cor 6:17). The true Church endures in the catacombs, in the chapels where the Mass of All Time is offered by priests ordained in the traditional rite, under bishops consecrated with valid lines of succession (Thuc, Méndez, Carmona), holding the integral faith without admixture. There, and only there, does the devil tremble. In Fortaleza, he only applauds.
Source:
Symposium in Brazil addresses the devil’s existence as part of Catholic doctrine (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 26.08.2026