Priest who performed 6,000 exorcisms says the devil is afraid of him

An 80-year-old Mexican priest, who has conducted at least 6,000 exorcisms in his 40 years of service, has claimed that the devil is afraid of him.

In an interview with Catholic News Agency, Fr. Francisco Lopez Sedano shared some of the things he learned working as an exorcist. He belongs to the order of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, and he is the national coordinator emeritus of exorcism for the Archdiocese of Mexico.

Lopez, who currently serves at the Parish of the Holy Cross in Mexico City, emphasized that the devil is not a thing but a person who wants to separate people from God. He pointed out that Jesus confronted the devil several times and spoke with him.

He also said that the devil is able to enter into persons because they allow him to do so.

"He can't enter us if we do not open doors," said Lopez. "Because of this, God prohibits the practice of magic, superstition, witchcraft, sorcery, divination, consulting the dead and spirits and astrology. These are the seven lands of lies and deceit," he added.

Lopez had learned through his years of experience that possessed people exhibit specific behaviors. He noted that he had observed possessed people who "began to shout, to bark like a dog, to scream or writhe and who squirmed like a snake on the ground. There are a thousand forms."

In one case, he encountered a possessed 18-year-old boy who pushed five large benches that should have required the strength of 10 people to move. He said they had to get the boy between three people to perform the exorcism.

The priest further explained that possessed people are sometimes afflicted by illnesses that doctors cannot detect.

"The injuries of Satan are outside the control of clinical medicine," he said. "People who live with permanent diarrhea and nothing makes it go away; people who have eye pain and ophthalmologists find nothing. These are injuries that science does not detect," he went on to say.

Lopez said that his 40 years of ministry have taught him that his exorcism is a divine mandate. After seeing serious cases of possession, he affirmed that his appointment as an exorcist was "out of necessity."

Some experts have raised their concerns about the growing demand for exorcists due to the spread of pornography, the occult, and use of illegal drugs. About 400 Catholic leaders met in Rome last October in order to strategize on how to recruit and train more exorcists.