Professor of the Center for Religious Studies, chief editor of Religion and Law
magazine, Anatoly Pchelintsev, shared his view with Pravda.Ru about the
report saying that the Pope may allow all priests practice the ritual
of exorcism.
"Exorcism is known as a ritual to expel
demons from a person possessed by them. In the Russian Orthodox Church,
it is called otchitka. This cult action must be treated very cautiously
for many reasons. In the Russian Orthodox Church, for example, very few
priests have a blessing for the ritual. Because this is a very scary
sight. There's obscene language, a person may swear and vomit, and many
other very unpleasant things may happen. Moreover, this entity - a
devil, or Satan, or whatever we call it, can invade someone else who is
standing nearby.
Not everyone can do this.
In the Roman
Catholic Church, this ritual action is more common than in the Russian
Orthodox Church.
Exorcism is practiced in Protestant churches too,
although it is less common there," said Anatoly Pchelintsev.