Editorial: The demonic horror of Latin
Web Posted: 11/27/2005 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News

Bishop Andrea Gemma of Naples is the enemy of the devil and hero to schoolchildren everywhere.

Gemma is best known as one of the Roman Catholic Church's leading experts on exorcism. He performs several rites each week and has written and spoken extensively about his experiences.

In Rome, Gemma serves as a lecturer in the class on "Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation" at the Pontifical Academy Regina Apostolorum.

Pope Benedict XVI has recently lent public support to priests who are waging war with Lucifer. But, Gemma warns fellow Catholics, it's not a job for amateurs or charlatans.

"Don't do this at home," Agence France-Press reports him as saying. Gemma's advice for those who want to take on the devil: "Live a holy life, work hard and be devoted to the Madonna."

And, he has a secret weapon, one particularly well-known to parochial school students: "If I speak Latin, the demon responds to me in Latin. He has a horror of that language."