ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on May 7, 2004

Dear Alberto: A solemn exorcism in the name of the Church must be done by a priest with permission of the Bishop, or by the Bishop himself. This is because the Bishop, and a delegated priest-exorcist are deputed to represent the Church by virtue of their Holy Orders. The exact prayers that are written for priest are not to be said by the laity. This is true of any prayer that is restricted to a priest or deacon. The restriction is due to the nature of the prayer being one that requires the priestly or deaconate ministry. In private situations or in Deliverance Counseling other prayers that use to be permissible for laity to use in spiritual warfare can no longer be said "as is" without some editing. This is because in 1985 the Holy See issued some restrictions that including prohibiting us from talking directly to demons or to command them directly. There is nothing wrong in-and-of-itself with the old prayers that do command Satan directly, but to do so is dangerous and in the Church's pastoral wisdom she seeks to protect the flock from such danger. Thus we must modify the language a bit. I can assure you that the editing that must be done does NOT in any way water down the prayers. It only changes the focus from "I" to the Father. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For Assistance with Spiritual Warfare problems please go to our How We Can Help You page. For a direct link to sample Spiritual Warfare prayers see our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog