Father Amorth was known for his blunt words about the devil and his works, always insisting that Satan's greatest triumph is getting people to believe he doesn't exist.

He also earned worldwide attention last year by attributing the work of the Islamic State terror group to the influence of the devil.

"ISIS is Satan," he said in an April 2015 Facebook post. "Things first happen in the spiritual realms, then they are made concrete on this earth."

"Biblically-speaking we are in the last days and the beast is working furiously," he said.

A prolific writer, Amorth published numerous books during his career, including An Exorcist Tells His Story, Memoirs of an Exorcist: My Life Fighting Satan, An Exorcist: More Stories, and An Exorcist Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels.

During his life Father Amorth performed some 70,000 exorcisms, often sacrificing sleep and leisure time to combat the "father of lies." Humanly inexplicable phenomena would accompany cases of demonic possession, Amorth said, including the ability to speak languages that hadn't been studied, superhuman strength, and levitation above the ground.

"Now he rests from his many battles with the devil," Spanish theologian, Father Jose Antonio Fortea told Catholic News Agency Friday.

Father Amorth believed that Satanism was on the rise all over the world, and counseled the faithful to resist Lucifer with prayer and vigilance.

In 2001, journalist Stefano Maria Paci asked Father Amorth about the influence of Satan in the Catholic Church and in the Vatican.

"The smoke of Satan enters everywhere," he replied. "I have no doubt that the devil tempts especially the leaders of the Church, as he tempts all leaders."

Source

• Breitbart
• Belfast Telegraph
• Los Angeles Times
• Catholic News Agency

After celebrating Mass, the Pope blessed several people in wheelchairs. When he held his hands on one man's head, the man shuddered and then slumped in his seat.

Several reporters speculated that the Pope had conducted an exorcism — a suggestion that was strengthened when TV2000, a television station owned by the Italian Catholic bishops, asked several exorcists to watch a video clip of the incident and they concluded: "It was a prayer of liberation from evil or a real exorcism".

But the Vatican said otherwise. The director of the Vatican press office, Father Federico Lombardi, said the Pope had intended simply to give a blessing.

"The Holy Father had no intention to perform any exorcism," he said. "Instead, as he frequently does for the sick and suffering persons who approach him, he simply meant to pray for a suffering person who was presented to him."

The Mexican priest who accompanied the man blessed by the Pope agreed. On his Facebook page, Father Juan Rivas said Pope Francis "prayed over a possessed person. Since no one heard the words he said, and he was right in front of me, we can say he recited a prayer for liberation, nothing more."

But the exorcist for the diocese of Rome disagreed. Father Gabriele Amorth said Pope Francis' act "was an exorcism all right and if Father Lombardi denies this, he clearly does not have a clue".

Father Amorth then revealed that the man concerned — a 43-year-old Mexican husband and father named Angelo, who was incorrectly described in some reports as a boy — had later come to him.

The exorcist said he had ascertained that the man was possessed by four demons and "I performed a long exorcism on him today".

Father Amorth said the man's need for the Pope's "prayer of deliverance" was related to the decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico — confirming a statement by Father Rivas, who said Mexicans had returned the country to "the pagan times of the Aztecs with their human sacrifices".

Sources:

Catholic News Service

ABC News

Catholic News Agency

Vatican Insider

Pope Francis prays over a sick boy in St Peter's Square (video)

Image: Vatican Insider