Up to one German per day undergoes a full scale exorcism, a priest estimates, giving a figure that has shocked the public. Hundreds of Germans, tortured by inner voices, are looking for priests to help free them from what they believe to be the grip of the devil, according to a radio documentary that has stirred debate about exorcism in the Catholic Church, the Times Online reports.
"Over the past year alone I have received requests from around 350 people who think they are possessed by an evil spirit," says Fr Joerg Mueller, who heads a group of priests, doctors and therapists to deal with the problem.
"Therapy hasn't worked for them; they want exorcism — a prayer that can free them."
Bavaria based Fr Mueller was talking to a team from WDR, the state radio network, which was allowed to record extracts from eight exorcisms.
A Polish exorcist, named only as Fr Wiktor, suggested this was only a fraction of the actual number seeking help.
"I would say that every day at least one person is undergoing a full scale exorcism," he told WDR.
This has come as a shock to the Catholic Church in Germany, which has shied away from exorcism since the tragic case of Anneliese Michel in 1973.
Ms Michel, 23, from a strongly Catholic Bavarian village, had epilepsy and suffered from hallucinations. Two priests were authorised to perform an exorcism. They performed the ritual 67 times until she died, having starved herself to 31kg.
After her death the priests and her parents were sentenced to six months suspended jail sentences for not referring her for medical treatment.
Permission for a full exorcism now has to be granted by a bishop, but few permits have been given.
Frustrated by the lack of exorcists in their own country, disturbed Germans are turning to esoteric spiritual healers and priests in Switzerland and Poland. Andrzej Trojanowski, a Polish priest, even has plans to set up an exorcism centre in Poczernin, on the Polish-German border.
"I would say that 90 per cent of those who think they are posessed by the devil are mentally ill," Fr Mueller said. A large number of them have suffered sexual abuse as children. Some think that an exorcism is easier than long years of psychotherapy.
He added: "But about ten percent of the people who approach us have some sign of demonic possession and then you have to turn to special, charismatic men and women who have the gift of being able to feel and recognise if demons have entered someone."
Only a handful qualify for exorcism. He gave the example of a widow who was convinced that her late husband had returned, in demonic form, to taunt her. She was offered psychotherapy.
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