EXCLUSIVE: Pope Declares War on Satan! How the Vatican is Building an Army of Expert Exorcists
Pope declares war on Satan as the Vatican builds an army of expert exorcists worldwide.
April 25 2026, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
Satanism is on the rise around the world, claims a shadowy cabal of Christian clerics who gave Pope Leo XIV the chilling warning that an army of exorcists is needed to battle the onrushing wave of demonic evil, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
According to reports emerging from the Vatican, the mysterious International Association of Exorcists (AIE) gave the terrifying warning of Lucifer's growing sway to Chicago-born Leo in a March 13 papal powwow in Rome.
Clerics Warn Pope of Demonic Surge
Top clerics warned Pope Leo XIV of 'increasingly widespread' demonic influence during a Vatican meeting.
During the private audience, the AIE's top two clerics – Bishop Karel Orlita and Father Francesco Bamonte – warned the pontiff about ominous and "increasingly widespread" incidents of demonic influence, as well as the "unprecedented challenges" facing priests.
"People are being "seriously affected by the extraordinary action of the devil as a result of their involvement in occult sects," they told Leo – adding that a trained exorcist is needed in every parish.
Sources said the dire meeting took place in the hallowed halls of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, the seat of Roman Catholic administrative power and home to the pope's private quarters.
Exorcist Group Warns of Satan’s Rise
The International Association of Exorcists, featured in 'The Pope's Exorcist,' urged Pope Leo XIV to expand trained exorcists worldwide.
The Rome-based AIE – featured in the 2023 Russell Crowe movie The Pope's Exorcist – was founded in 1994 by two Roman Catholic European priests to train clerics on how to expel Satan from the possessed through the ancient art of exorcism, sources said.
RadarOnline.com has learned that the AIE's warning comes amid other disturbing reports of Satan's rise. In 2022, the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics reported a troubling 167 percent spike in people who identified as satanists from 2011 to 2021, along with an increase in parents who had named their child Lucifer, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Satanic Temple, a Salem, Mass.-based organization dedicated to secularism and personal liberty, said its ranks have swelled to over 100,000 since its founding in 2013.
Catholic Decline Fuels Occult Rise Fears
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Top cleric, Father Francesco Bamonte, cautioned Pope Leo XIV that the spread of occultism is opening doors to 'the extraordinary action of the devil.'
At the same time, millions are leaving the Church, with the percentage of U.S. adults identifying as Catholic falling from 24 to 20 over roughly the last two decades.
"The spread of occultism in its various forms, and of satanism unfortunately, opens doors and windows to the extraordinary action of the devil in today's world," Bamonte warned the pope.
"This can cause grave suffering in those who imprudently turn to these practices, through possible cases of possession, vexation, obsession or diabolical infestation."
