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Love and other demons: exorcism today

A few weeks talk of a book by Gabriel García Márquez, "Of Love and Other Demons" that takes the reader to the reality of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) eighteenth century, colonialism, the English viceroys, slavery and the Inquisition. Marquez tells a story that is mixed with reality, where a bite of a rabid dog and the intransigence of the Church ended with the death of a child for "demonic possession" , a term which continues to believe in today.


In 1610 arrived in Cartagena de Indias, a colony that was attractive for its port neg rero and commercial the Holy Office of the Inquisition , operating until the early nineteenth century. One of the crimes in the city was persecuting witchcraft was practiced enough. During the years of the Inquisition in Cartagena (from 1610 to 1821) were punished by 767 prisoners, among whom are a large number of black, convicted of witchcraft. Many witches were women diagnosed with diseases that doctors at the time could not explain, or disorders that drawn up for its healing potions could not cure. The Church sought suppress witchcraft through exorcism.


At first, the exorcism, it involved contact with the holy water and holy oil, recitation of prayers, and take strange potions. Over time, the techniques were exorcists increasingly complex and cruel. Any action was valid (whips, chains, torture, immersion in hot water or cold, fasting) provided to convert the body into an unpleasant place to the devil.

Servant Maria de Todos los Angeles, the main protagonist of the story, was twelve years old and was raised by African slaves who, due to the indifference of his parents, he taught their languages, customs and devotion to their deities. When bitten by a rabid dog, Bishop plays his convulsions and screams in "idolatrous jargon" and "unmistakable symptoms of demonic possession." He believed that "among the many wiles of the devil is very often take on the appearance of a foul disease to enter a guilty body" . Not taken into account breeding with African girls. The Bishop thought it best to submit to a series of exorcisms as cruel as unnecessary. Servant Mary was, then, a victim of religious intolerance.

Exorcism is currently viewed as mere superstition. However, there are people who argue that possessions are a fact and that exorcism is the only action possible to counteract this evil. One of them is the Vatican's official exorcist, Gabriele Amorth , who at 85 years has more than 70 000 exorcisms performed. Amorth speaks the most common symptoms are the possessed enormous strength, talking or understand different languages, some of them old or missing. "The devil sometimes spits out objects that are impossible to explain, for example, large size nails and razor blades coming out of the belly of the victim. All these objects are realized at the time they leave the mouth, "Amorth said.

Marquez in "Love and Other Demons", is critical of the attitude of the Church at that time because in their zeal to prosecute and punish heretics, and controls the company, killed thousands of innocent cruelly, who were confused with witches and demonic. The Inquisition ended ago much, but you still see some of their beliefs, such as demonic possession.