Exorcism in the Catholic Church
According to the Vatican guidelines issued in 1999, “the person who claims to be possessed must be evaluated by doctors to rule out a mental or physical illness.” Most reported cases do not require an exorcism because twentieth-century Catholic officials regard genuine demonic possession as an extremely rare phenomenon that is easily confounded with natural mental disturbances. Despite that fact, every diocese is required to have at least one priest that is an exorcist, or is trained to perform exorcisms (17). As the demand for exorcisms has increased over the past few decades, the number of trained exorcists has also risen. In prior times, exorcists were kept fairly anonymous, and the performance of exorcisms remained a secret. Some exorcists attribute the rise in demand of exorcisms to the rise in drug abuse and violence, which leads to the suggestion that such things might work hand in hand. Many times a person just needs spiritual or medical help, especially if drugs or other addictions are present. The specially trained priest and medical professionals will be able to work together to address the patient, and be able to determine what type of illness the patient is suffering from. After the need of the person has been determined then the appropriate help will be met. In the circumstance of spiritual help, prayers may be offered, or the laying on of hands or a counseling session may be prescribed. The exorcist might not perform an exorcism if he does not know the person.
Vince Lampert
Father Vince Lampert received his exorcism classroom training at the Pontifical North American College in Rome,Italy. He was in the same training class with Father Gary Thomas, the exorcist for San Jose, California US. Matt Baglio wrote the book, "The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist" based on Father Gary Thomas, that later became the 2011 movie, The Rite. Father Lampert received practical experience, by assisting on over 40 exorcisms with Father Carmine de Filippis, who is the mentor for exorcists in the Diocese of Rome. While speaking to students about exorcism at Seton Hall University about his training, he told them he spent three months training to be an exorcist.