To me, this looks like a case of unmistakable satisfaction. But, you know, I’ve gotta ask: If Fr. Ripperger is obediently accepting the wishes of his superior and agrees to be silent, what precisely is there to ridicule?
In fact, speaking of Ripperger’s blamelessness….
Irony
Fr. Ripperger didn’t just emerge out of nowhere. It’s not like he’s AJ Gentile or Art Bell, just wanting to run a preternatural-sounding campaign for clicks, likes, and book sales. He hasn’t been building his career because he once got this great idea and aspired to be the best exorcist he could be, simply because he wanted to corner the market and get fame and attention. This is not the case with him at all.
No, boys and girls. Fr. Chad Ripperger is the result of the NeoCath darling, himself, Pope John Paul II. Remember him, gang? Good ol’ JP2, Papa Wojtyła—God’s Athlete? The greatest guy since Moses, who has innumerable books written about him that are eaten up by the millions.
Oh yes.
Back in the early aughts and 2010s, everyone was all thrilled and excited, because under the reign of John Paul II, we saw the development of exorcism courses. Remember that? People loved hearing that news. By that point, Art Bell interviews with Malachi Martin were floating around on the internet, and people couldn’t get enough of the topic.
Just to refresh your memory, in 2004, we saw the rise of these special exorcism courses emerging from Pope John Paul II’s Vatican. They came about in the final months of his pontificate. When the first classes began on February 17, 2005, there was a whole lot of international publicity. The institution was the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, operated by the Legionaries of Christ, and its course was called Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation. It was all organized by the Sacerdos Institute in cooperation with GRIS, an Italian research organization.
When this thing started in February of 2005, 100 priests attended the opening. By 2018, 250 priests from 50 different countries were participating in it. It was an era all unto its own. Critics might regard it as a “gravy train” for exorcists. And the enthusiasm for it continued for years. Heck, in November of 2010, there was a major exorcism conference in Baltimore because the American bishops were concerned about a shortage of priests qualified to be exorcists.
Exorcists were all the rage. Press coverage was enormous. Want some articles? I’ll give you some articles:
-Vatican U. Offers Exorcism 101 - CBS News / Associated Press · 2/17/05
-Priests Sign Up for Exorcism 101 - Los Angeles Times · 2/18/05
-University Launches Satanism Course for Priests - The Guardian · 2/18/05
-College Course Gives the Details on Getting the Devil Out - Washington Post / Associated Press · 10/23/05
Anyone remember that?
Oh, and remember when ChurchMilitantTV was still regarded (by some) as legitimate, and Michael Voris did that little video in 2018, “The Smoke of Satan,” telling us about how celebrated Vatican exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, warned us about diabolical influence within the Vatican—even referencing Fr. Malachi Martin, himself? Oh! For shame!
Even Dr. Dad-with-a-webcam, Prevost-boy Taylor Marshall, himself, has favorably interviewed Fr. Ripperger, even defending him to this day. And Christine Niles? She was thrilled to interview one exorcist, just to talk fondly about the memory of another. Back in 2023, she was interviewing Fr. Carlos Martins (exorcist) to remember the life and impact of the late Fr. Amorth. She even praised Amorth for helping make exorcism more publicly visible, calling it a crucial ministry.
And again, not to be left out, Bergoglio himself wanted to jump on the “exorcist train” back in 2017, urging confessors not to hesitate to call on exorcists. And back in June of 2014, the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy formally recognized the International Association of Exorcists under canon law. And as recently as April 2023, he even said he would call on an experienced exorcist if needed, and he described how demonic temptation could target those in Church leadership.
So yeah, even those who regard Bergoglio as a legitimate pontiff likely were all aboard with the program up to that point.
So, as you can see, Fr. Ripperger is but merely the fruit of John Paul II’s papacy. He is a creation of this Vatican push—under Pope John Paul II, no less—to expand the ministry of exorcists worldwide. The institutional Church built this machine and fed the press its “Exorcism 101” headlines for twenty years. They wanted exorcists. They told the bishops there was a shortage, and they got exactly what they wanted. Fr. Ripperger took the job seriously and preached about what he found.
“Ah, But Things Are Different Now.”
Fr. Ripperger hasn’t changed at all. He’s been talking about generational spirits and demonic reality this whole time. Those same talks that Neo-Catholics once passed around are still out there. But—uh oh—his audience grew. And by gollee, he has a traditional following. So we can’t have that. He has a ministry that the faithful trust and a big, fat microphone.
Uh oh. That won’t do.
So now things are changing. Now we have a problem with “celebrity exorcists.” Now we have this “exorcist boom” that the Church manufactured under their “most favorite pope evah!” So he’s a liability now. He was cheered at first. But not now!
So what do we have? We’ve got Cardinal McElroy removing Monsignor Stephen Rossetti as Washington’s exorcist, shortly after the latter publicly remarked that UFOs are nothing more than demonic hijinks. Not to mention the fact that Msgr. Rossetti, himself, has a growing public ministry. His own prominence as an exorcist and his willingness to speak openly about demons, hell, and sin are a fly in the ointment. And thus, we’ve seen him taken down a notch earlier this year.
And then, there is Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, Tennessee, who recently directed priests to discontinue the recitation of the St. Michael Prayer immediately before and after Mass. Beckman's October 16 announcement came just three days before Archbishop Golka's October 19 statement concerning Fr. Ripperger. What a coincidence, eh?
Five years ago, Archbishop Carlo Vigano presciently warned against this sort of thing:
The secularized world, and along with it not a few Shepherds, will be able to mock this appeal [the St. Michael prayer] and the Exorcism itself, considering it the legacy of a past to be cancelled along with the Faith of our fathers.
Not a few “shepherds” are beginning to figure something out. It’s great to get all spooky during the Halloween season and talk up exorcisms and demonology for the masses. It makes for great headlines, PR, and wide public appeal. But begin to take it seriously, and we learn something: this mystical battle against the forces of darkness has a cultural, religio-political direction to it. And it’s not modernist liberal democracy and pluralism.
The Future of Exorcist Ministries In The Public Eye
In July 2026, the vice president of the Vatican-recognized International Association of Exorcists said “the ministry of exorcism is part of the Church’s public life,” and that exorcists may educate the faithful so long as they aren’t chasing celebrity.
We shall see how long this sentiment lasts.
When Cardinal McElroy removed Msgr. Stephen Rossetti as Washington’s exorcist, he cut ties with the St. Michael Center, and told Catholic News Service that exorcism should ordinarily be private, not publicly promoted. This is not “exorcism as a part of the Church’s public life.”
Public life involves preaching from the pulpit, evangelization, public speaking, and simply “being out there.” Catholic history is filled with priests surrounded by enormous crowds. St. Vincent Ferrer preached before thousands gathered in public squares. Spectators were crowded into nearby houses and on rooftops. St. Anthony of Padua drew such big audiences, his sermons had to be moved from churches into open fields. With him, people sometimes arrived the night before to secure a place. St. Bernardino of Siena basically turned the city square into an outdoor cathedral, and he’d preach for weeks before throngs of laity.
If the good guys retract all of their stars and heroes, there will be a vacuum, and before we know it, those spaces will be filled in with the adversary’s own “stars and heroes.” We will have Bishop Barrons, James Martins and others who blatantly disregard actual Catholic teaching.
Conclusion
So what exactly are the critics celebrating when they see Ripperger silenced? Not heresy. Fr. Ripperger hasn’t been accused of any. Disobedience? He “readily agreed” to the silencing. It’s not scandal—the archdiocese thanked him for his “priestly service” and “exorcism ministry.” They didn’t say why they asked him to go silent at all.
Basically, what they’re celebrating is the silencing of a priest who did exactly what the Church asked of him. The Vatican spent years telling the world it needed exorcists. It got one. He took the devil seriously, talked to the faithful about it, and the faithful listened. That was his offense.
I watched this happen once before, in 2016, when a brand-new bishop in Tulsa dissolved the exorcist team his predecessor had built. Ten years later, the script hasn’t changed. Only the diocese has.
The “shepherds” keep benching the men who fight the devil out loud, because a Church that takes the devil seriously won’t make peace with their modernist new world order.