Exorcist calls for ‘spiritual warfare’ against ‘growing evil’

Exorcist calls for ‘spiritual warfare’ as ‘rising evil’ means exorcisms take twice as long as they did 50 years ago.

Father Chad Ripperger, a longtime Catholic priest and exorcist, is sounding the alarm about a growing “demonic onslaught,” urging believers to fight dark forces.

Father Ripperger warned of the rise of demonic forces last week during an hour-long talk at the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. The reason for the sharp increase in demonic activity, according to Father Rippinger, lies in the large number of people committing “evil deeds” and a decrease in holiness among believers.

“Before 1963, the average time to liberate someone from full possession was one to two days. Maybe a week on the outside,” he explained.

“After 1963, what used to take one to two days went to eight months to two years to liberate the average person. Then it’s now, on average, four years to liberate somebody. There’s two reasons for that.

“One is because the world is much more evil, and the demons are a lot more powerful. The second component is [how] exorcisms work, what they call ex opere operantis Ecclesiae.

“What does that mean? It means how holy the people are in the Catholic Church determines how effective my prayers are when I walk into session.

“That tells us that there’s a fundamental problem with the members of the Church. They’re not as holy as their counterparts were in the past,” he asserted.

Though Fr. Ripperger cites mortal sin, an increase in the number of people doing evil in the world, and a decrease in holiness as primary factors for the increased activity among dark elements, he reminds us that God Himself will allow for demonic influence to sanctify the faithful.

“One of the principal reasons that God allows demons in our lives is to sanctify us, because when we combat them and become instruments of justice to them… that is meritorious in the eyes of God, and it actually raises our place in heaven. St. Paul said it: ‘Engage the ancient serpent and win the crown of glory.’”