Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 1, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, inaugurated this week the first National Meeting of Exorcists as a means of combating the spread of Satanism. Among those participating in the event is Fr. Gabriel Amorth, founder of the International Association of Exorcists.
Addressing the more than 500 participants, including exorcist priests from various dioceses in the country, the Cardinal emphasized that “this is a crucial moment for the Church” and that the Church “must denounce with the Word everything that is against God,” particularly witchcraft, occultism, magic, fortune telling, tarot cards and masonry, among other things.
The meeting includes conferences, panels and roundtable discussions by experts such as Fr. Giancarlo Gramolazzo, President of the International Association of Exorcists, and Fr. Mario Angel Flores Ramos, Director of the Theology Department of the Pontifical University of Mexico.
In his homily during the inaugural Mass, the Cardinal warned that “something even more relevant is that, in certain cities of the world, Satanic cult worship is taking place” and “the reality of our times also includes Satanic works such as the New Age, which attempts to attract people with false ways of thinking and living.”
According to the Cardinal, the New Age proposes “believing not in a personal God who has revealed Himself to us, but in an impersonal god who identifies himself with this material world of which we are part, in an attempt to make us believe that we ourselves are God.”
“Some seek to solve their problems, sicknesses, pain and suffering by following an unreal and superficial path without establishing a personal relationship with God,” he added.
Lastly, he called on participants to “make Christ your center, who through his passion, death and resurrection, through the cross, triumphed over Satan, and offers Himself to us through bread and wine in the Eucharist, so that united to Him we might participate in His victory, together with Mary, star of the Evangelization, principal cooperator with Christ in the work of redemption and in crushing the head of the serpent and his seed.”