Summary

After centuries of obscurity, the rite of exorcism is raising its profile. While church attendance appears to be falling, so-called masses of deliverance from the devil attract large congregations. A recent survey carried out by the Association of Catholic Psychiatrists and Psychologists discovered that half a million Italians annually turn to exorcists for help. Now for the first time in Church history the Vatican is backing a course to prepare a new generation of exorcists. Pope Benedict XVI recently hailed the importance of the rite and publically encouraged exorcists to continue their ministry.

Return of the Exorcists shows rare and controversial footage of exorcism and sufferers in states of trance and altered states. With access to Italy's most prominent exorcists and the people who turn to them for help, the film goes beyond the extreme drama of the ritual and observes the daily life of an exorcist, seeking to understand what the rite really is and what lies behind its revival. Father Francis Tiso, a Harvard-educated theology professor, guides the documentary. Having become an exorcist in 1992, he is uniquely placed to comment on the history of the ritual and its relevance today. In his words: ‘Exorcism is the Christian life writ large’.