What the devil?

In 2018 I attended a course on exorcism at the Vatican. Here’s what I learned.

Dear friend,

I have a confession to make: Today’s edition of Nation First is very different to the material I usually publish.

Back in 2018, I went on a pilgrimage for Easter which took me to Jerusalem, Rome and Bosnia.

As a student of theology and with a significant interest in the spiritual battle that’s playing out all around us, I attended a course on exorcism at the Vatican. This is the course made famous in the movie (and book) titled The Rite.

(Bizarrely, about a week later, I encountered a man who was seemingly possessed. More on that later.)

It was at this Vatican course that I was told that not only could an individual be possessed but so too could a society, a culture, a nation, in fact an entire civilisation.

When in Rome: I was caught drinking coffee in this photo accompanying a New York Times story on the exorcism course (in the red circle).