The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has removed a priest as an exorcist and cut ties with the priest's nonprofit organization over comments the priest made about UFOs and demons.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington, said in a statement that Monsignor Stephen Rossetti of the Diocese of Syracuse, New York, had been removed as an exorcist. McElroy said statements Rossetti made "linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center’s recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism."
Rossetti, president and founder of the St. Michael Center For Spiritual Renewal in the District of Columbia, has been an exorcist in Washington for 19 years, according to his website. He wrote the book "Diary of an American Exorcist." He is also a psychologist and worked in the psychological treatment of priests. He has led hundreds of "exorcism and deliverance sessions," his website says.
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U.S. priest and psychologist Stephen Joseph Rossetti talks during a news conference in downtown Rome Feb. 7, 2012.
Rossetti recently commented on UFOs in a video posted to social media.
"The Church has said there's nothing incompatible with the faith about believing that there's life on other planets," he said. "I personally don't think there is.
"But there's a danger here, and I want to raise that as an exorcist," he said. "Demons like to hide. They don't want us to know they're around. ... It's my personal belief that probably many if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons."
Vice President JD Vance, a converted Catholic, has made similar comments on UFOs. He told "The Benny Show" in March: "I don't think they're aliens, I think they're demons anyway, but that's a longer discussion."
In a statement posted to the St. Michael Center website, Rossetti said that he was "saddened" by the decision and that the center plans to "continue its ministry elsewhere."
"I ask forgiveness for any ways that I have not been faithful to the teachings of the Church’s Magisterium, particularly in the cited video on 'aliens and the demonic,'" Rossetti said. "I 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."
Exorcisms are official practices of the Catholic Church. They are a "specific form of prayer that the Church uses against the power of the devil," according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They come in two forms: a simple exorcism that may be used for those preparing to be baptized and major exorcisms that can be performed only by a bishop or priest, must receive approval and are aimed at "the expulsion of demons or to the liberation [of a person] from demonic possession," according to the conference.
