There’s apparently a line even the devil’s own representatives aren’t allowed to cross. Who knew?
Monsignor Stephen Rossetti spent nearly two decades as a prominent exorcist in the Catholic Church, serving as the face of the Archdiocese of Washington’s spiritual warfare efforts. He wrote books like “Diary Of An American Exorcist” and served as the Catholic chaplain to the Washington Nationals. Dude was basically the-real-deal credentials-wise.
But recently, he stepped in something that got him booted from the church entirely.
Rossetti appeared in a video posted in late May where he made some, let’s say, outlandish claims. He said there’s “no question” that “probably many if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons and they can do things that we can’t.” He even claimed he showed an image of a UFO to someone with “a particular gift” who confirmed it was actually a demon.
The Catholic Church, it turns out, does not have an official position on UFOs. Who knew? But they definitely have opinions about their priests going off-script and making stuff up that looks embarrassingly like conspiracy theory content.
The Archdiocese of Washington didn’t mess around. Their statement said Rossetti’s video “gravely undermine[d] the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.” That’s church-speak for “you’ve gone too far, buddy.”
It’s a wild fall from grace for someone who was essentially the Vatican’s go-to guy on demonic activity in America. The video has been scrubbed from YouTube but clips live on social media, because that’s how the internet works now. Once something exists digitally, it basically exists forever.
Rossetti apologized, saying he was “saddened” by the decision and asking “forgiveness for any ways that I have not been faithful to the teachings of the Church’s Magisterium.” The St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, which he headed, is also toast as far as the archdiocese is concerned.
Look, I’m not here to gatekeep what priests can and can’t believe in their personal lives. But when you’re an official representative of a 2,000-year-old institution that values precise doctrine, maybe maybe don’t go on YouTube and tell people that aliens are actually demons? That’s the kind of thing that makes believers question everything.
The whole situation raises an uncomfortable question: if demons are apparently hiding in UFO sightings now, what else are they hiding? And more importantly, who’s checking?
This story was originally reported by HuffPost.
