Meet Father Jose Francisco Syquia. He's a Roman Catholic priest in Manila, Philippines, with a rather unusual job: he's head of the Manila Archdiocese's Office of Exorcism.
A blood-curdling scream echoes through the Roman Catholic chapel in Manila as Father Jose Francisco Syquia says a prayer of exorcism over a Satanic cult member believed to be possessed by the devil.
"It's very painful," the woman cries in an unearthly voice, her body contorting in an attempt to break free from the tight grasp of Syquia's assistants. After a few minutes she falls silent, her limp body exhausted.
The case is among hundreds documented on video and kept by Syquia, who heads the Manila Archdiocese's Office of Exorcism -- the only one that exists in the Catholic nation of 94 million people.
"She would have levitated had she not been restrained," Syquia said of the woman in the video, portions of which were shown to AFP during a rare interview at his office in the basement of a seminary in Manila.
Syquia believes he is in the frontline of the battle between good and evil on earth.
"There is a great dramatic increase of possessions right now," said the 44-year-old priest. "More and more the demons are gaining a foothold into this society."
They may not realise what they are doing is wrong, but that does not mean they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (losely based on the true story of Anneliese Michel who was killed by the neglect of her priest and family) seemed to be making an attempt to do this, with the inclusion of the court case with the prosecution arguing that the priest and her family neglected her to death. However then the movie implied that the prosecution lawyer was being haunted by the same deamons who killed Emily. While entertaining, the film's attempt to justify the exorcist's actions by promoting the supernatural is no doubt insulting to the memory of Anneliese.
The Philippines is more than 90% Catholic and very religious, so it wouldn't be hard to convince someone they were possessed by the devil (and have them truly and deeply believe it to the point of "manifesting" the effects of being possessed). The fact that there's a committee for exorcism scares me more than the possibility of evil "gaining a foothold" into society.
//Oooooo....I see dumb people//
Texas mom convicted in daughter's "exorcism" death (April 13, 2011)
Suspected witches sent to prison (April 10, 2011)
Central African Republic Witchcraft
"Every year hundreds are charged with the practice for which the punishment is execution (although there are no recent reports of this punishment being carried out) however most are sent to prison with jail terms averaging about four years. In some local prisons about 50% of the prison population is taken up by those accused of witchcraft."
It's amazing to see how quickly the ''I hate priests'' contingent shows up after a post having to do with religion here.
A constant concern of mine when wathing Paranormal Research Society is that the "EMF" they pick-up on their recorders is the actual cause as transcranial magnetic stimulation of the temporal lobes. But they are busy looking around for ghosts.
Two known contributors to schizophrenia:
Congenital Toxoplasmosis
Congenital Rubella
BTW; Congenital Toxoplasmosis is the result of a placental infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii whose primary host is the feline (cat). T. gondii can infect mice and cause them to be attracted to cats who then get infected. One day I saw a mouse trying to climb up on our cat and thought maybe it was infected. I went to the vet, and the vet had never heard of T. gondii.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii
Not true. I risked myself receiving an exorcism, at risk of my own health.
It happened when I was 14 years old, living in central-southern Italy. It was 1992.
While on a day trip with the equivalent of American "Sunday School", I started experiencing a strong headache, shortly followed by seizures to part of the face and right arm, foam from the right of the mouth and rapid eye movement.
While the bus driver raced to an highway service area to call for medical assistance, the priest accompanying us took the situation in his hands and put up a ruckus to have the driver to stop at the roadside to let him "practice an exorcism". Later someone told me that of the three adults with us, two agreed with him while the third panicked.
Fortunately, the driver managed to overcome opposition and reach a service area, where he found a Carabinieri car. They took me to Naples hospital without having to wait for an ambulance. There I was visited and went under emergency surgery to remove a blood buildup that was causing pressure on the brain. The priest was later questioned, but no measure was taken.
That was a close call, the blood spill could have been fatal in just a few minutes more. It had consequences, of course, but luckily they disappeared with time.