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The Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy, on Wednesday removed a well-known priest as an exorcist of the archdiocese after he made public comments suggesting that UFO sightings were the work of demons.<\/p>\n
McElroy said the archdiocese also was cutting ties with the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, a Washington-based nonprofit headed by the priest, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti.<\/p>\n
The archbishop said Rossetti\u2019s statements \u201clinking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center\u2019s recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church\u2019s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a danger here,\u201d Rossetti said in a May 29 video posted on his Facebook page addressing UFO sightings and the existence of aliens. \u201cAs an exorcist I wanted to raise that danger. And that is that demons like to hide. … They don\u2019t want us to know what they\u2019re doing because they\u2019re more effective when we don\u2019t realize it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey can kind of get into your head, you know, and manipulate things in the world to influence us to do evil.\u201d<\/p>\n “It\u2019s my personal belief that probably many if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons,\u201d Rossetti added.<\/p>\n Rossetti also said that people can be good Catholics and believe there\u2019s life on other planets, though he does not personally believe life exists elsewhere.<\/p>\n In a statement posted on the St. Michael Center website, Rossetti said he was saddened by the action of the archdiocese. <\/p>\n “I ask forgiveness for any ways that I have not been faithful to the teachings of the Church\u2019s Magisterium, particularly in the cited video on ‘aliens and the demonic,'” he said. \u201cI believe it is of the utmost importance to be obedient to the Church and I will continue to endeavor to subject all that I do and the Center to be thus obedient.\u201d<\/p>\n Rossetti, who has over 148,000 followers on Instagram, is a prominent psychologist as well as an exorcist. His center has specialized in offering spiritual healing for priests troubled by various difficulties.<\/p>\n In 2023, he told The Associated Press<\/a> there was increasing and renewed appetite for information about demonic possession and exorcism.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n