charitra
27 November 2011, 06:39 PM
Nick Squires (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/nick-squires/), Rome. 25 Nov 2011
Father GabrieleAmorth, who for years was the Vatican’s chief exorcist and claims to havecleansed hundreds of people of evil spirits, said yoga is Satanic because itleads to a worship of Hinduism and “all eastern religions are based on a falsebelief in reincarnation”.
Reading JKRowling’s Harry Potter books is no less dangerous, said the 86-year-old priest,who is the honorary president for life of the International Association ofExorcists, which he founded in 1990, and whose favourite film is the 1973horror classic, The Exorcist.
The HarryPotter books, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, “seem innocuous”but in fact encourage children to believe in black magic and wizardry, FatherAmorth said.“Practising yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like readingHarry Potter,” he told a film festival in Umbria this week, where he wasinvited to introduce The Rite, a film about exorcism starring Sir AnthonyHopkins as a Jesuit priest.“In Harry Potter the Devil acts in a crafty andcovert manner, under the guise of extraordinary powers, magic spells andcurses,” said the priest, who in 1986 was appointed the chief exorcist for theDiocese of Rome.
“Satan is always hidden and what he most wantsis for us not to believe in his existence. He studies every one of us and ourtendencies towards good and evil, and then he offers temptations.” Science wasincapable of explaining evil, said Father Amorth, who has written two books onhis experiences as an exorcist. “It’s not worth a jot.The scientist simplyexplores what God has already created.” His views may seem extreme, but in factreflect previous warnings by Pope Benedict XVI, when as Cardinal JosephRatzinger he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,the Vatican’s enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy.
In 1999, sixyears before he succeeded John Paul II as Pope, he issued a document whichwarned Roman Catholics of the dangers of yoga, Zen, transcendental meditationand other 'eastern’ practises. They could “degenerate into a cult of the body”that debases Christian prayer, the document said. Yoga poses could create afeeling of well-being in the body but it was erroneous to confuse that with“the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit,” the document said.
Italian yogaschools said Father Amorth’s criticism was absurd. “It’s an accusation that hasnothing to do with reality,” Vanda Vanni, the founder of the Mediterranean YogaAssociation, told Adnkronos, an Italian news agency.“It’s a theory — if one cancall it a theory — that is totally without foundation. Yoga is not a religion ora spiritual practise. It doesn’t have even the slightest connection withSatanism or Satanic sects.” Giorgio Furlan, the founder of the Yoga Academy ofRome, said yoga had nothing to do with religion, “least of all Satanism.”“Whoever says that shows that they know absolutely nothing about yoga,” hesaid.
Father Amorthhas previously said that people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards ofglass and pieces of iron and have such superhuman strength that even childrenhave to be held down by up to four people. He has also claimed that the sexabuse scandals which have engulfed the Catholic Church in the US, Ireland,Germany and other countries was proof that the Anti-Christ is waging a waragainst the Holy See.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html
Father GabrieleAmorth, who for years was the Vatican’s chief exorcist and claims to havecleansed hundreds of people of evil spirits, said yoga is Satanic because itleads to a worship of Hinduism and “all eastern religions are based on a falsebelief in reincarnation”.
Reading JKRowling’s Harry Potter books is no less dangerous, said the 86-year-old priest,who is the honorary president for life of the International Association ofExorcists, which he founded in 1990, and whose favourite film is the 1973horror classic, The Exorcist.
The HarryPotter books, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, “seem innocuous”but in fact encourage children to believe in black magic and wizardry, FatherAmorth said.“Practising yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like readingHarry Potter,” he told a film festival in Umbria this week, where he wasinvited to introduce The Rite, a film about exorcism starring Sir AnthonyHopkins as a Jesuit priest.“In Harry Potter the Devil acts in a crafty andcovert manner, under the guise of extraordinary powers, magic spells andcurses,” said the priest, who in 1986 was appointed the chief exorcist for theDiocese of Rome.
“Satan is always hidden and what he most wantsis for us not to believe in his existence. He studies every one of us and ourtendencies towards good and evil, and then he offers temptations.” Science wasincapable of explaining evil, said Father Amorth, who has written two books onhis experiences as an exorcist. “It’s not worth a jot.The scientist simplyexplores what God has already created.” His views may seem extreme, but in factreflect previous warnings by Pope Benedict XVI, when as Cardinal JosephRatzinger he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,the Vatican’s enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy.
In 1999, sixyears before he succeeded John Paul II as Pope, he issued a document whichwarned Roman Catholics of the dangers of yoga, Zen, transcendental meditationand other 'eastern’ practises. They could “degenerate into a cult of the body”that debases Christian prayer, the document said. Yoga poses could create afeeling of well-being in the body but it was erroneous to confuse that with“the authentic consolations of the Holy Spirit,” the document said.
Italian yogaschools said Father Amorth’s criticism was absurd. “It’s an accusation that hasnothing to do with reality,” Vanda Vanni, the founder of the Mediterranean YogaAssociation, told Adnkronos, an Italian news agency.“It’s a theory — if one cancall it a theory — that is totally without foundation. Yoga is not a religion ora spiritual practise. It doesn’t have even the slightest connection withSatanism or Satanic sects.” Giorgio Furlan, the founder of the Yoga Academy ofRome, said yoga had nothing to do with religion, “least of all Satanism.”“Whoever says that shows that they know absolutely nothing about yoga,” hesaid.
Father Amorthhas previously said that people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards ofglass and pieces of iron and have such superhuman strength that even childrenhave to be held down by up to four people. He has also claimed that the sexabuse scandals which have engulfed the Catholic Church in the US, Ireland,Germany and other countries was proof that the Anti-Christ is waging a waragainst the Holy See.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html