Bishop José Trinidad Zapata Ortiz of Papantla, Mexico, discussed the work of the Mexican bishops’ recently established exorcist ministry team, the Pastoral Care of Consolation and the Ministry of Exorcism (DEPAC).
Bishop Zapata told ACI Prensa that “many of our parishioners who are baptized do not live out their faith in an orthodox manner” and take part in “spiritist practices or other types—satanic ones, or the so-called ‘Santa Muerte.’”
The bishops thus saw a “growing need to address these situations of spiritual, moral, and physical suffering of some persons, which may have a malevolent origin” and to “support the exorcists who were already undergoing training courses,” the prelate said.
Bishop Zapata warned that if Satan “wreaks havoc upon us, it is because we first allowed him to do so. We venture onto his paths and let him into our lives.” When a bishop appoints an exorcist, the priest should be “a Eucharistic priest, a Marian priest, a priest who enjoys caring for those in need, especially the sick.”