CARDINAL McELROY REMOVES WASHINGTON EXORCIST

What Exactly Did Monsignor Stephen Rossetti Do Wrong?

There are moments in the life of the Church when a decision is announced with great confidence but leaves behind more questions than answers. The removal of Monsignor Stephen Rossetti as an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Washington by Cardinal Robert McElroy has certainly got me scratching my head.

In a brief statement released by the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal McElroy announced that Monsignor Rossetti, a priest of the Diocese of Syracuse, had been removed from his role as an exorcist and that all affiliation between the archdiocese and the Saint Michael Centre for Spiritual Renewal had been terminated. The reason given was equally brief. According to the Cardinal, statements made by Rossetti “linking UFOs to demonic presence” together with the centre’s “recent use of social media” had gravely undermined the Church’s “very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism”.

The difficulty is that neither the statement itself nor subsequent reports have explained precisely which teaching Rossetti is alleged to have contradicted.

Monsignor Rossetti is hardly an obscure figure operating on the fringes of Catholic life. A priest, psychologist, author and educator, he has spent decades working with clergy and has acquired a substantial reputation in the field of spiritual warfare and deliverance ministry. His academic credentials are formidable. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, he later earned advanced degrees in theology, ministry and psychology, served as President of the Saint Luke Institute, taught at The Catholic University of America and became one of the most recognisable Catholic voices discussing demonic oppression and exorcism in the English-speaking world.

For many years he served as one of the exorcists attached to the Archdiocese of Washington. Numerous reports have referred to him as the archdiocese’s “chief exorcist”, although it is worth noting that this title appears to have been used more commonly by journalists and commentators than as a formally defined canonical office. Nevertheless, there is little dispute that Rossetti occupied a position of considerable importance and visibility in Washington’s ministry of exorcism.

The controversy centres on comments Rossetti made in a video discussing unidentified aerial phenomena and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. He explicitly acknowledged that Catholics are entirely free to believe that intelligent life may exist elsewhere in the universe. The Church has never defined the question. Yet Rossetti also suggested, based upon his experience as an exorcist, that many reported UFO phenomena may in fact be demonic manifestations or deceptions. Importantly, he described this as his personal belief rather than a matter of Catholic dogma.

🔒 Continue reading for the full analysis of Cardinal McElroy's decision, Monsignor Rossetti's record as an exorcist, the Catholic theology of demons and extraterrestrial life and why this controversy raises uncomfortable questions about doctrinal consistency in the modern Church.