Exorcism for Atheists

 FRESH SPOILERS! BIG AND MOIST

The Netflix version of The Exorcist released in 2016 or thereabouts. I just got around to seeing several episodes. I quit watching at episode seven of the first season. I no longer knew what the rules of the world were and wasn't engaged enough to view more and see if any explanations were forthcoming.

The filmmakers decided to reimagine the original film and toy with the exorcism rules as laid down by Canon Law. The story takes liberties with the rite of exorcism as laid out by the Roman Ritual. For instance, the Church ordains that the exorcist must be:

"A priest — one who is expressly and particularly authorized by the Ordinary — when he intends to perform an exorcism over persons tormented by the devil, must be properly distinguished for his piety, prudence, and integrity of life. He should fulfill this devout undertaking in all constancy and humility, being utterly immune to any striving for human aggrandizement, and relying, not on his own, but on the divine power. Moreover, he ought to be of mature years, and revered not alone for his office but for his moral qualities."

—Catholics Online

In the Netflix series, the two exorcist priests consist of a gay, defrocked and excommunicated priest and another priest who leaves an exorcism to go bang his hot girlfriend. 

Gay priest could care less whether the Church approves of his conducting exorcisms. Girlfriend priest does but is turned down by his bishop. He conducts an exorcism anyway. 

It's pointed out in Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans: "Unlike a sacrament, exorcism's "integrity and efficacy do not depend ... on the rigid use of an unchanging formula or on the ordered sequence of prescribed actions. Its efficacy depends on two elements: authorization from valid and licit Church authorities, and the faith of the exorcist."

At least as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, any exorcism performed absent Church approval is doomed and the well-being of the exorcist in jeopardy.

According to the United Stated Conference of Catholic Bishops the lay faithful "are not to recite any prayers reserved to the exorcists, not only because the prayers are reserved to those ordained to act in the person of Christ the Head (in persona Christi wapitis), but also to protect the faithful from possible spiritual harm."

Fortunately for our two Netflix priests, the demon they are attempting to expel is a gentlemen. When the exorcism moves to a priory, the well-bred demon refrains from shouting out the sins of priest and former priest in front of the assisting nuns. Their clerical failings are in no way held against them by the possessing spirit.

What's the point of all this?

I only wish to mention that the original Exorcist managed to present a tight, scary was ilm and still draw within the lines of the Catholic faith and the rite of exorcism. All the above items were available to me with a few search engine clicks. Hence, they were available to the filmmakers.

Who didn't care.

Possibly because the intended audience wouldn't care, most knowing nothing positive of religion and zero of exorcisms beyond their use as an entertainment trope.

There were nice touches in the series. The handling of the demon was clever and the actor playing it skilled in threading a line between sinister and seedy.

But overall it was a Marvel movie with the priests as god-like beings disdaining morality and holy rites in their narcissistic quest to render help as they saw it.

Autom

In the end, the woke story beats proved too overwhelming. 

They turned what could have been an intriguing tale into more-of-the-same.