{"id":1219,"date":"2026-06-04T18:07:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1219"},"modified":"2026-06-04T18:07:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:07:39","slug":"cardinal-fires-d-c-exorcist-who-said-ufos-are-mostly-demons-in-disguise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1219","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal fires D.C. exorcist who said UFOs are mostly demons in disguise"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cardinal Robert McElroy has removed Stephen Rossetti as the Archdiocese of Washington\u2019s exorcist after the monsignor posted a viral video theorizing that most UFOs that people see are demons in disguise.<\/p>\n

Read more Russia aggressively recruiting spies at NATO\u2019s edge; Estonian intel cites new twists in shadow war<\/a><\/p>\n

The Catholic priest and psychologist shared the video last month through his Saint Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, a nonprofit \u201cdeliverance ministry\u201d in Northwest Washington that maintains an active social media presence.<\/p>\n

Cardinal McElroy declared in a Wednesday news release that \u201cstatements made by Monsignor Rossetti linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center\u2019s recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church\u2019s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archdiocese, which serves over 667,000 Catholics in the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland, also said it \u201cended all affiliation\u201d with the center.<\/p>\n

Monsignor Rossetti responded by posting an apology on the center\u2019s website and announcing plans to \u201ccontinue its ministry elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask forgiveness for any ways that I have not been faithful to the teachings of the Church\u2019s Magisterium, particularly in the cited video on \u2018aliens and the demonic,\u2019\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

He pledged to heed the cardinal\u2019s decision and thanked the archdiocese \u201cfor its support and blessing\u201d during 19 years as its exorcist.<\/p>\n

Monsignor Rossetti, 74, is a former Air Force intelligence officer ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Syracuse in New York. He later ran a psychological treatment center for priests in Silver Spring, Maryland, and advised the U.S. Catholic bishops after the 2002 clergy sex abuse crisis.<\/p>\n

He gradually became one of the highest-profile exorcists in the country, publishing the book \u201cDiary of an American Exorcist\u201d in 2021 and amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.<\/p>\n

At the same time, he served as a chaplain for baseball\u2019s Washington Nationals and taught pastoral counseling at the Catholic University of America.<\/p>\n

Posted May 29 on Facebook, his roughly five-minute video acknowledged that the Catholic Church has no official stance on aliens. But he warned that such sightings could reflect demonic influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my personal belief that probably many, if not most, of these UFO sightings are in fact demons,\u201d Monsignor Rossetti said.<\/p>\n

Online influencers and conservative Christian media outlets circulated the video widely, capitalizing on the Trump administration\u2019s release last month of government documents on unidentified flying object sightings.<\/p>\n

Some church insiders welcomed Monsignor Rossetti\u2019s firing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has claimed on his blog that demons send text messages,\u201d said Dawn Eden Goldstein, a Catholic theologian and canon lawyer. \u201cI pray that Monsignor Rossetti will use this humbling experience to reconsider his efforts to obtain \u2018influencer\u2019 status and instead focus on his first vocation as a priest of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathryn Jean Lopez, a Catholic spirituality author and religion editor at the conservative National Review, countered that Rossetti is \u201ca good and holy priest\u201d whose online sessions healed her acquaintances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know Monsignor Rossetti has helped people tremendously,\u201d Ms. Lopez said in a phone call. \u201cIt was jarring to see the announcement from the archdiocese, and I hope people will pray for him more than pontificate about UFOs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump to nominate Todd Blanche as permanent attorney general<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Unfortunate incident\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theresa Farnan, a moral philosopher who has served as a consultant on family issues to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the firing \u201can unfortunate incident\u201d that illustrates the danger of a priest\u2019s online comments becoming clickbait.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonsignor Rossetti acknowledged that the question of life on other planets was theologically neutral and clearly intended to warn against spiritual manipulation, which can occur whenever you place your trust in something other than God,\u201d Ms. Farnan said. \u201cUnfortunately, his comments were distorted.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also cautioned against viewing the cardinal\u2019s decision as a \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d response to the Trump White House\u2019s release of UFO files.<\/p>\n

Cardinal McElroy, an anchor of the church\u2019s progressive wing, has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation of illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis job is to ensure accurate teaching of the faith in his diocese, and his response would have been the same no matter who was in the White House,\u201d Ms. Farnan added.<\/p>\n

Psychologist Thomas Plante, a professor at Santa Clara University, a Catholic school in California, described the monsignor\u2019s video as a \u201cprovocative and controversial\u201d effort to understand UFOs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all trying to make sense of the world we are in and the world that might be beyond us,\u201d said Mr. Plante, a member of the American Psychological Association. \u201cOur faith traditions give us a frame of reference to understand the world and offer meaning to what we experience and witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Age craze<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Catechism of the Catholic Church identifies two types of exorcism prayers: one for asking protection from demons and one for casting them out from a possessed person. It cites the example of Jesus casting out demons in the Bible to justify the prayers as an ancient healing ritual.<\/p>\n

In the Catholic Church, only an authorized exorcist may handle a demonic possession, which is rare and occurs only after a lengthy psychological evaluation.<\/p>\n

U.S. Catholic dioceses have reported a surge in exorcism requests in recent decades, prompting an unofficial third form: priests trained as therapists who use part of the ritual during counseling sessions in full-time \u201cdeliverance ministries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christian Smith, a sociologist emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, blamed a surge in New Age spirituality for the uptick in exorcisms.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew immigrants have, since the 1960s, definitely stoked these fires,\u201d Mr. Smith said. \u201cBut most of those newly interested are White Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Vincent Druding, an assistant pastor at Holy Cross Catholic Church in New York City who works in deliverance ministry, confirmed that the church has no position on UFOs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I affirm the principle that demons like to be hidden and sometimes manifest themselves in the form of visions,\u201d Father Druding said. \u201cThose afflicted by demons can have visions with an element of mystery to them, and it\u2019s important to work with good Catholic therapists to do the emotional work of inner healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump to spend $700M to boost U.S. coal production<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cardinal Robert McElroy has removed Stephen Rossetti as the Archdiocese of Washington’s exorcist after the monsignor posted a viral video theorizing that most UFOs that people see are demons in disguise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,6],"tags":[925,896,895],"class_list":["post-1219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-archdiocese-of-washington","tag-robert-mcelroy","tag-stephen-rossetti"],"yoast_head":"\nCardinal fires D.C. exorcist who said UFOs are mostly demons in disguise - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1219\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardinal fires D.C. exorcist who said UFOs are mostly demons in disguise - 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