William Friedkin told a masterclass at the Cannes film festival about the episode and its impact on him.

"I was invited by the Vatican exorcist this month to shoot and video an actual exorcism which . . . few people have ever seen and which nobody has ever photographed," he said.

Mr Freidkin said he was shocked at how close the ceremony was to the exorcism depicted in his 1973 movie.

"I don't think I will ever be the same having seen this astonishing thing.

"I am not talking about some cult, I am talking about an exorcism by the Catholic Church in Rome," he said.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has yet to confirm Mr Freidkin's claims.

The Exorcist movie, based on a novel by William Peter Blatty, recounts the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to win her back through a rite conducted by two priests.

The book was based on the 1949 case of an American teenager called Roland.

Mr Friedkin, 80, said the Catholic "archdiocese of Washington DC asked Blatty to change the gender (in the novel) so as not to draw attention to the young man".

Having read extensively about this case, Mr Freidkin said he believes the boy was genuinely possessed.

"Everything having to do with medical science and psychiatry was attempted.

"This young man suffered from afflictions very similar to what's in the film, as hard is that is to believe."

"I believed in this story," Mr Friedkin told the audience in Cannes, referring to the original possession of the boy.

"I made this story as a believer. I'm not Catholic, I don't to church, I don't belong to a church or a synagogue."

Sources

• The Guardian
• Daily Mail
• Image: The Guardian

New research among UK undertakers has shown that some of the most popular items put in coffins include packets of cigarettes, cans of beer or bags of lollies.

Many people are buried with their favourite football scarf, or accompanied by letters or teddy bears with deep personal value, according to a survey of funeral directors.

One undertaker recounted how one of their clients was even buried with a cardboard cut-out of the Dr Who actor David Tennant.

And, with echoes of the ancient Egyptian practice of mummifying cats, birds and crocodiles, one of the most common choices is to be buried alongside the cremated remains of a much-loved pet.

At the same time funeral directors reported a marked decline from the use of hymns and Christian readings amid a shift away from church funerals and a trend for more "personal" send-offs.

This echoes developments in wedding fashions.

The burial trends emerged from a survey of undertakers carried out as part of a wider study of funeral practices in Britain by the insurer SunLife.

The survey showed that 55 per cent of undertakers had noticed a decrease in the use of hymns at funerals in recent years.

And 52 per cent said the same of religious readings - a decline mirrored by increases in the use of secular music and poetry.

One in five said they had noticed a rise in the number of people asking to be buried with a specific item.

Dorset funeral director Anthony O'Hara said: "You see anything from someone's favourite perfume to cheques that will never be cashed, typically family photos to love letters from the war that have been kept for years."

"People now put mobile phones in with a message ‘ring us when you get there'."

But he said that while in ancient Egypt and other cultures people were buried with items representing their status, modern Britons are simply buried with things which represent them personally.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: Ahmed Amirudden blog

Professor Giuseppe Ferrari said this to a Vatican-backed exorcism course in Rome recently.

The professor heads an Italian occult watchdog, The Group on Research and Socio-Religious Information.

Series like True Blood and the Twilight movies have attracted large young audiences.

The Vatican regards genuine demonic possession as rare, with many suspected cases proving to be people with mental illnesses.

But the Rome course heard that the number of possessions is rising globally.

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"It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the devil! And we do not have the right to simplify the matter, as if to say: ‘All of these [people] were not possessed; they were mentally ill'.

"No! The presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over the devil."

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"Was he demon possessed? Maybe. It happens," the Rev. Dwight Longenecker wrote at the Patheos website, where the Catholic priest from Greenville, S.C., is a columnist.

Religious leaders and public figures have sparked some of the most heated discussions in the wake of the tragedy as they have offered various explanations for the violent outburst and spiritual guidance for dealing with it. Read more

Sources

• David Gibson in Huff Post Religion
• Image: Mystic Politics

David Gibson is a columnist for the Religious News Service of the Huffington Post