'Asia's first' exorcism center to rise in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — The Archdiocese of Manila is building an exorcism center, which it called the “first of its kind in Asia, if not the world.”
The Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Liberation and Exorcism, which broke ground last May 17, will be constructed on Bernardino Street corner EDSA, Guadalupe Viejo in Makati.
The center will house the Manila archdiocese’s Commission on Extraordinary Phenomena, the Ministry of Exorcism and the Ministry on Visions and Phenomena. It will also serve as the headquarters of the Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists.
PACE is under the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and is affiliated with the International Association of Exorcists in Italy.
“This center will minister to those in bondage to the devil who are therefore the poorest of the poor and are usually overlooked,” said Rev. Fr. Francisco Syquia, director of the Archdiocese of Manila’s exorcism office.
The exorcism office said in a Facebook post that the center is the result of “more than seven years of prayers, planning and fundraising.”
“We are grateful to you our benefactors who have until this point supported the Saint Michael Center. We hope for your continued prayers, sacrifices, skills and monetary donations. Our work of constructing the center is just beginning,” it said.
Incidentally, Saint Michael is an archangel in Christianity, Judaism and Islam who is invoked in an exorcism prayer.
Exorcism is practiced in many religions throughout the world, but has been deeply associated with the Catholic Church largely due to pop culture that mainstreamed the religious rite believed to drive out demons that possess people.
In the modern Catholic Church, an exorcism is rarely ever performed over concerns that demonic possession might actually be manifestations of mental illness. As such, a supposedly possessed individual must be first examined by a medical professional to rule out any mental health issues.
Only certain Catholic priests can perform exorcisms and these rituals are always undertaken with the permission of a bishop.
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