When asked if he had ever performed an exorcism as pope, the Holy Father replied that he had not but that he had requested the services of exorcists when he served as bishop in Argentina.
“When I was archbishop of Buenos Aires I had several cases of people who came to me saying they were possessed. I sent them for a consultation with two good ‘specialist’ priests: They are not healers but exorcists,” the pope said.
“Both of them later told me that only two or three of those people were really victims of diabolical possession. The others suffered from diabolical obsession, which is quite different because they didn’t have the devil in their bodies. This should be specified,” he said.
In reference to the testimony of a young nun suffering from demonic possession who said that the devil said he hated the pope, the Holy Father said that, as a Christian, he would expect that.
“It is possible that I get on the devil’s nerves, because I try to follow the Lord and do what the Gospel says. And that annoys him. At the same time, he is certainly happy when I commit some sin. He seeks man’s failure, but he has no chance if there is prayer.”
The devil, he said, is powerless when someone prays and follows Christ.