[attach id=255428 size="medium"]In this image made from video provided by APTN, Pope Francis lays his hands on the head of a young man last Sunday, after celebrating Mass in St Peter’s Square. Photo: PA[/attach]

Religious observers are asking: “Is Pope Francis an exorcist?” after an incident in St Peter’s Square.

The Pope laid his hands on the head of a young man after celebrating Mass. The man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook, and then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him.

The television station of the Italian bishops’ conference said it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed that Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil.

The Vatican was more cautious, saying Francis “didn’t intend to perform any exorcism”.

“But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone.”

Fuelling the speculation is Francis’ obsession with the devil, a frequent subject of his homilies.

When you witness something like that – for me it was shocking – I could feel the power of prayer

There has been an apparent surge in demand for exorcisms among the faithful despite the irreverent treatment the rite often receives from Hollywood.

Who can forget the green vomit and the spinning head of the possessed girl in the 1973 cult classic The Exorcist?

In his very first homily as pope on March 14, Francis warned cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel the day after he was elected that “he who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil.”

He has since mentioned the devil on a handful of occasions, most recently in a May 4 homily when in his morning Mass in the Vatican hotel chapel he spoke of the need for dialogue – except with Satan.

“With the prince of this world you can’t have dialogue: let this be clear!” he warned.

Experts said Francis’ frequent invocation of the devil is a reflection both of his Jesuit spirituality, his Latin American roots – and a reflection of a Catholic Church weakened by secularisation.

“The devil’s influence and presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity inversely proportionate to the presence of Christian faith,” said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a theologian at Rome’s Pontifical Holy Cross University. “So, one would expect an upswing in his malicious activity in the wake of de-Christianisation and secularisation” in the world and a surge in things like drug use, pornography and superstition.

In recent years, Rome’s pontifical universities have hosted several courses for would-be exorcists on the rite, updated in 1998 and contained in a little, red leather-bound booklet. The rite is relatively brief, consisting of blessings with holy water, prayers and an interrogation of the devil in which the exorcist demands to know the devil’s name and when it will leave the possessed person.

Only a priest authorised by a bishop can perform an exorcism, and canon law specifies the exorcist must be “endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity.”

While belief in the devil is consistent with Church teaching, the Holy See does urge prudence, particularly to ensure that the afflicted person is not merely psychologically ill.

The Rev. Giulio Maspero, a Rome-based systematic theologian who has witnessed or participated in more than a dozen exorcisms, says he is certain that Francis’ prayer was either a full-fledged exorcism or a prayer to “liberate” the young man from a demonic possession.

He noted that the placement of the pope’s hands on the man’s head was the “typical position” for an exorcist to use.

“When you witness something like that – for me it was shocking – I could feel the power of prayer.”

He said it was particularly symbolic that Francis’ purported exorcism occurred on Pentecost, an important feast day for the Church when the faithful believe Jesus’ apostles received the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit is connected to the exorcism because... it is the manifestation of how God is present among us and in our world,” he said.

Italian newspapers noted the late Pope John Paul II performed an exorcism in 1982 – near the same spot where Francis prayed over the young disabled man.