The Catholic Church has Eucharistic Congress, international Youth Congress and Family Congress held regularly in different countries. But this is the first time I heard of Exorcism Congress. Apparently Mexico has already hosted the event five times. Very timely indeed since the incidence of diabolical possession grew over the past decades all over the world, that even Hollywood was prompted to produce movies with the same theme. But in Mexico, even the laity are invited to attend the said congress to aid them in differentiating between possession and mental disorders.

The fifth National Congress of Exorcists will be held during September and October in Mexico City.

The purpose of the congress is “to learn about the experiences that psychiatrists and mental health care specialists have had in accompanying exorcists in the exercising of this ministry,”explained Father Pedro Mendoza Pantoja, the general coordinator of exorcists for the Archdiocese of Mexico City.

The theme of the congress will be the healing and liberation of the sick.

The event is intended for exorcist and non-exorcist priests and lay people interested in helping their priests in the ministry of healing, Fr. Mendoza explained.

Among those speaking at the congress will be Italian exorcists, Fr. Gabrielle Nanni and Fr. Sante Babolin.

Fr. Nanni spoke earlier this year at a course in Rome on exorcism and Satanism sponsored by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Congregation for the Clergy. Fr. Babolin spoke at the sixth Meeting on Formation for Exorcists in Sicily.

The program for the congress includes talks on the predisposition and vulnerability to psychiatric disorders in individuals; the physical and environmental causes that contribute to anxiety in the soul; as well as on how to distinguish schizophrenic disorders from other kinds of disorders.