D.C. cardinal cites privacy in exorcisms for firing priest who claimed UFOs are demons in disguise
by Sean Salai · The Washington TimesCardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, said in a recent interview that the need to keep exorcisms “private” justified his firing of a priest who declared in a viral video that UFOs are demons in disguise.
Cardinal McElroy told the Catholic News Service that his decision to dismiss Stephen Rossetti last month “wasn’t touching on the question of UFOs.”
“My major objection is that I think the traditional role of an exorcist is a very private one,” the archbishop said in the June 29 interview, published Wednesday. “It’s a sacred one.”
His remarks appear to walk back his assertion in a June 3 press release that “statements made by Monsignor Rossetti linking UFOs to demonic presence” and his “recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.”
“It’s my personal belief that probably many, if not most, of these UFO sightings are in fact demons,” Monsignor Rossetti said in the May 29 video.
The footage went viral — building on the Trump White House’s release of government files on UFOs and Vice President JD Vance’s stated belief in a March podcast interview that “they’re demons anyway.”
Published on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the cardinal’s interview insisted that exorcism is “a private, within-the-life-of-the-Church ministry.”
Monsignor Rossetti, a psychologist who teaches pastoral counseling at the Catholic University of America, did not respond to a request for comment.
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In a statement last month, he pledged to continue his exorcism ministry elsewhere, and apologized “for any ways [he] failed to remain fully obedient to the Magisterium of the Church.”
Church insiders have been divided on his firing.
Dawn Eden Goldstein, a theologian and canon lawyer, said Thursday that a priest “acting as a media influencer to showcase his exorcism ministry” betrays the confidentiality people expect.
“The cardinal’s statements are fully in line with the unbroken tradition of the Catholic Church, as well as all official documents concerning the ministry of exorcism,” Ms. Goldstein said.
Others have accused Cardinal McElroy of firing the exorcist for political reasons. They note that the cardinal is an anchor of the church’s progressive wing and outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
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“Even if it’s best or common practice for exorcists not to go public, I highly doubt this was Cardinal McElroy’s true motivation for removing Msgr. Rossetti,” Annette Jals, a Catholic laywoman based in Ontario, Canada, posted Wednesday on X. “My skepticism is based on McElroy’s reputation as a dissenting or erring cleric, versus Rossetti’s orthodoxy.”
Historically, exorcisms have evolved from Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ driving out demons in public to a more secretive ritual.
Current church practice treats demonic possession with a level of confidentiality akin to counseling – but not with the same seriousness as the seal of confession, which results in excommunication for priests who break it.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines exorcism as asking “publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion.”
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Mike Lewis, a Catholic blogger and former communications official for the U.S. Catholic bishops, cautioned against describing it as a “private ministry.”
“I don’t think that’s the Church’s terminology,” Mr. Lewis said Thursday. “That said, Cardinal McElroy’s broader point reflects a longstanding Catholic practice.”
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Sean Salai
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