(English text after the Italian / Spanish text after English)

Prayer of liberation and healing. Which insurmountable border separates theology and pastoral with the danger of falling into magical practices?

«Using the magical offices of certain charismatic shamans, Not only will the deceased of the whole family tree of applicants be freed, But also those who must always come to the world. Indeed, thanks to the power of the peregrifying liberator from one hotel to another, posterity will no longer even need baptism, Why, Once the imposition of the hands is received by a electrocuted in the brain, they will be born directly without original sin "

— Pastoral current events —

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Cap.

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In the face of my last two articles on the possible drifts of a method of understanding exorcism, combined with the conception that sees the devil as a marketing and profitless product (you see WHO e WHO), I believed it appropriate to write a third that will have as its object the prayer of liberation.

I want to clarify that my little contributions are nothing Compared to the most complete and exhaustive works of demonologists such as Mons. Renzo Lavatori or Father José Antonio Fortea.

How can we forget particularly expert exorcists like the Father Moreno Fiori o.p. and the Father Raffaele Talmelli S.P., Both left a flourishing bibliography on demonopathies. We cannot forget, against the other, All the other exorcist priests who carry out their ministry in fatigue and who are reliable masters in which to find a guide. Considering that some of them have written several books and articles on these issues, I invite the reader to a targeted bibliographic research with which it is possible to increase the knowledge of these topics. In the face of this, My article constitutes only a small tribute and thanksgiving.

Before defineing precisely the prayer of liberation, First of all, the boundaries and areas of competence must be established. First of all, This prayer is not an exorcism but it is a prayer of intercession with which we turn to God, to the Madonna or the Saints to ask for the liberation of a suffering person due to the evils caused by the influence of the evil one. With this definition we immediately exclude the conclaimed cases of real diabolical possession, that exist but they are very rare, and the cases of diabolical influences such as the obsessions and harassments that must require a particular care by the exorcist priest, joined to a multidisciplinary approach of the case.

To be even more precise We summarize how much the sacred congregation for the doctrine of the faith has established since 29 September 1985 in Letter to ordinary regarding the rules on exorcisms (cf.. WHO) And we apply what has been said to the liberation prayer:

– In the prayer of liberation it is never allowed, even when they do not deal with diabolical possession, contact the devil directly.

– Only the exorcist can be addressed directly to the devil, intimandogles, In the name of the Church, to leave.

– Lays cannot, even if they are prayers of liberation, Use the formulas of exorcism, Including the one published by Pope Leo XIII, nor use part of said prayer.

– Exorcism can only be exercised by a priest specially authorized by the local ordinary (cf.. Code of Canon Law, 1166; 1172).

Defining even better the prayers of liberation It is necessary to specify that they can be recited by anyone who intends to ask the Lord for themselves or for others healing and liberation from evil, On the basis of the invocation already contained in the prayer of the Our Father who recites "free of us from evil", that is, free us from the evil one.

Ask God to defend us from the evil one it means affirming a double truth: The defense against sin that is the main work of the evil one and the defense against the consequences of sin, whose fruits are represented by the countless infirmities and spiritual and bodily fragility of which man has had experiences already after his creation. Theologically it is more correct to see liberation and healing as aspects of the same reality of fighting to sin, on which Jesus, The Son of man, has full power (cf.. MC 2,1-12).

In the document entitled Education about prayers to get healing from God, The sacred congregation for the doctrine of faith, In the disciplinary provisions it establishes:

«To every faithful it is legitimate to raise prayers to God to obtain healing. However, when these take place in church or another sacred place, It is convenient that they are guided by an ordered minister " (cf.. art. 1).

Based on a correct theological vision of understanding of sin and its consequences, Each faithful has the opportunity to invoke God for liberation and healing from his evils, as well as ask the prayers brothers for this intention. Whether these evils have affected the spirit or body, with a wise assignment to Christ Celeste doctor, The faithful use all the remedies that grace and human science make available to be able to soothe as much as possible such suffering. As a result, in discernment between the different evils and the possible treatments, the faithful will be able to resort to the priest, to the doctor or other specialist based on his real situation of infirmity, without excluding that all these figures can work in communion to reach a happy resolution of the problem. We remember, about that, One of the cornerstones of health pastoral care that says that where it is not possible to heal it is always possible and duty to cure.

The prayers of liberation and healing They should be properly formulated in a context of full loyalty to the filing of the faith of the Catholic Church, in communion with the Magisterium, In obedience to the sacred shepherds and with their firm attention to never slip towards deviated and ambiguous forms that could generate misunderstandings or misunderstandings, As the last document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith already mentioned indicates.

Only by inserting liberation into a sacramental journey We can then ask ourselves about when it is appropriate to resort to the so -called liberation prayers. I have already had the opportunity to explain that the path of liberation and fight against the devil is very complex and begins with the sacrament of baptism, In that daily path of conversion and change of mentality that constitutes the solid basis of a new life in the Holy Spirit, in which in the image of the child, The Holy Spirit is pushed in our soul and the voice of the Father recognizes us as loved children (cf.. Mt 3,17; MC 1,11; LC 3,22). Risorti as new creatures from the waters of baptism, We too are conducted in the desert to face the face to face to be against the spirit of evil. In Christ we already have the victory, His divine humanity strengthens our humanity; His divine Spirit and the same spirit of ours has been given to us and with whom we can say every time we are tempted: «Go Satan!» (cf.. Mt 4,10).

From the sacrament of baptism we move on to the sacrament of confession with which the Holy Spirit speaks to us as to the prodigal Son and invites us to return to the paternal house to be covered with that branch dignity that we have lost with sin (cf.. LC 15,17-20). It is precisely of sin, indeed, push man to the removal from God, Up to convince him that his father is the obstacle element for full happiness and a freeding realization. When the man with his concrete historical acts and with his current sins voluntarily opens the door of his heart to the ordinary action of the evil one, here the sin is consumed. And sin drags to sin, With the repetition of the same documents it generates the vice, from which the perverse inclinations then derive from it, which obtaining consciousness by altering it and leading man to an inability to evaluate and choice between good and evil (cf.. Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 1865).

Certain current sins with the consequent derivative vices, They involve a clear personal responsibility of the man - the divine question due to the fault of the progenitors and for the murder of Abel is quite eloquent: "What did you do?» (cf.. GN 3,13; 4,10) - An obvious fault, which can be recovered only and only when it is dissolved with the power of the keys that Jesus gave to Pietro (cf. Mt 16,18-19) and that in the sacramental forum is represented by the acquittal. If we are careful, we are faced with the celebration of a real exorcism, to the supreme act of liberation of man, which is not only an invoked liberation, but objectively realized in reality.

The sacramental path that leads from baptism to confession culminates with the Eucharist and Holy Mass. Indeed, The path of liberation does not stop but continues in a very special way in the Eucharist, In that divine banquet of the Holy Mass where the real presence is made, real and substantial of our Redeemer. In his true body, In his true blood, In his true soul and in his divinity he continues to defeat the power of the evil one-sin and death-and with his own person he wins the one who is the very incarnation of the "non-person" and leads the man towards a human and divine depersonalization[1].

I think it is useful to know that the new Roman Missal In the section "Masses and prayers for various needs" includes several specific formulars for the celebration of the Holy Mass which have as its object the sick and the dying (NN. 45-46) To then move on to all those spiritual situations of various needs that could be a consequence of the intervention of the spirit of evil and the rooted and hardened sin (n. 48 sez. A-B-C).

Keeping this sacramental vision of liberation well in mind that embraces the first three sacraments of the septenary, Allow me to borrow a thought of Cardinal Mauro Piacenza:

«The sacraments continually educate the struggle: especially the repetable sacraments, those who do not impress character and that can be celebrated many times in life, mean and indicate, full way, The "competitive" dimension - of agone - of the fight against evil ".

This is the focal point of the question that we set ourselves at the beginning of this paragraph: how decisive it is immediately to resort to liberation prayers if you are not constantly inserted within a sacramental path? Without a attitude preventive sacramental it is necessary to avoid prayers of liberation, especially if the actual utility is not warned, without a certain preparation by those who intercept on the person and without a prior and robust preparation of those who receive them.

It is necessary to clarify how the effectiveness of the sacramental (Exorcism or prayer of liberation) In the faithful it depends on their sacramental life. These are the sacraments that imprint the freeding and re -analyzed force to the sacramental, who are part of that affected and lived faith in daily by the faithful. Has no case in the Holy Mass, in the rites of communion, The priest before the exchange of peace says:

«Lord Jesus Christ, that you told your apostles: “I leave you peace, I give you my peace ", Don't look at our sins, But to the faith of your Church, and donale unity and peace according to your will. You who live and reign over the centuries of the centuries. Amen».

It is the faith that the Lord seeks from us, that faith received in baptism, strengthened in the recognition of our sins and the exercise of mutual charity, Nourished and increased by the body and blood of Christ. Without faith or in the absence of it there is no type of liberation or healing, Only superstitious palliative that often cause more damage than benefits from the soul and body. And in this superstitious vision we can also drop the holy things, like the use of sacramental and devotion to the saints.

When we talk about prayers of liberation We risk getting lost within a variety of truly diversified forms and content, It is therefore completely consequential to ask: which prayers of liberation to do? The collections of these prayers would impose an order that is above all of a theological nature. Indeed, The structure of these prayers is very varied and it is often difficult to go back to the exact origin: they range from apparently Catholic ones, to those with a devotional flavor related to some mystical or holy, to those with an oriental style that wink at the Greek world up to the prayers of some reformed Christian communities (Suffice it to mention the practice of liberation, of purification and healing of the genealogical tree of Kenneth Mcall) To finish then to Formulari with a clearly esoteric flavor.

The absence of a canon never transcribed constitutes the most evident problem from which the lack of an approved canonical collection to be drawn. This is perhaps one of the things that most promotes the possibility of resorting to wild improvisation. Certainly priests have the opportunity to resort to the blessing that it gives countless ideas, But the field of the fight against the devil and its influences is so specific that it would require some more attention, So as to avoid the morbid research of the averting and the most decisive invocation also at the cost of crossing the border from orthodoxy and garden.

The prayer of liberation is outlined as an invocative prayer which concerns the context of the Sacramentals. This requires having to verify at least two criteria in it:

– that is approved by the competent ecclesiastical authority;

– that has a very precise dogmatic and liturgical construction in its composition that it does not leave margins of confusion or misunderstanding.

In the directory on popular and liturgy piety, The congregation for divine cult and the discipline of the sacraments establishes:

«Although drawn up with language, as it were, Less rigorous than the prayers of the liturgy, The texts of prayers and formulas of devotion must draw inspiration from the pages of Sacred Scripture, of the liturgy, of the fathers and the magisterium, agree with the faith of the Church. The stable and public texts of prayers and acts of pity must approve the local ordinary " (cf.. full document WHO).

The prayer of liberation needs to be a prayer approved by the Church precisely because of the delicacy of the matter treated, containing of necessity inside that corpus of faith believed and professed that well summarizes that theological principle for which the the law of prayer And law of belief and vice versa. Although the prayers of liberation are not real liturgical prayers, which consist of a specific celebratory and liturgical area, This does not exempt from a less accurate composition of the texts and content.

But let's get to the specific. In my two previous articles, I have already had the opportunity to argue on the prayer of the Our Father that the Lord himself taught to his disciples (cf.. Mt 6,9-13; LC 11,1-4) and as such, It prefigures not only as the first prayer of liberation but first of all as prayers par excellence. Excluding this, We know that in the new exorcism ritual it is contained, In 2 appendage (NN. 1-10), A section of prayers for private use of the faithful who find themselves having to fight against the power of darkness. This list can well be considered as an official list and approved of prayers to be done privately and who affect all those who experience an action of the devil that goes beyond ordinary action. It is legitimate to think, so, that the ratio Inspiring of these prayers does not concern only those who are already subjected to greater exorcism but above all those who find themselves experimenting with a particular direct assault of the evil one.

Wanting us to unbalance in the interpretation, We can assume that the mens Of these prayers in the ritual it does not only concern the single faithful but also that largest community that is to travel the streets of this world of ours marked by the wound of sin and the fomite of the concupiscence. Useful in this sense it is to draw up an essential case that could suggest the use of a prayer of liberation, Just as the Church has always done in many litanic prayers that end with the invocation: Deliver us O. Let's think for example:

1) to frequent and repeated blasphemy;

2) to feelings of hatred, rancor, of destruction and despair;

3) to the inducement in severe sin and rooting to perform evil;

4) To the conflicts torn to families;

5) to situations of natural and epidemiological wars and disasters;

6) to those situations of widespread immorality, of desecration and scandals that also concern the public life of a country or a nation;

7) to the malicious and defacent management of human relationships and between peoples;

8) to persecutions against the Church and Christians because of faith in Christ;

9) to the attack on the integrity of weak and defenseless human life.

The case studies could also be much more diversified, But the use of a precise and mature discernment accompanied by the Church becomes the best choice to learn to distinguish the origin from the cause[2]. Because, If it is true that certain situations do not always have the devil as a direct cause it is also true that at the origin of these evils there is always its deceived and corrupted action.

Listing the prayers of official and approved liberation prayers, For argumentative completeness I believe is noteworthy the universal prayer that the Church elevates to God on Good Friday. The tenth intention, dedicated to all tributes, reads like this:

"We pray, Dear brothers, God the Almighty Father, because the world free from any disorder: remove diseases, Scacci hunger, Make prisoners freedom, justice to the oppressed, grant safety to those traveling, The return to the distant from home, Health to the sick, to the dying eternal salvation.
Almighty and eternal God, comfort of the afflicted, Support of Tribolates, Listen to the cry of suffering humanity, Because everyone rejoiced to have received the rescue of your mercy in their needs. For Christ our Lord " (Previous x, For tributes).

This high plea on the day when the Church recalls the passion of the Lord, has a clear value of liberation prayer. Indeed, God is asked that all evils and situations of fragility and danger for men come to be removed, To achieve the victory against the one who at the origin of all evil and sin. While being part of the official liturgy of Good Friday, Nothing prohibits a faithful to recite it privately and to ask God for himself and for others the help in the various situations of tribulation.

Finally, here we come to the problem of pastoral abuses in the prayers of liberation. In education about prayers to get healing from God, The congregation requires that these prayers take place preferably in church or another sacred place and that they are guided by an ordered minister. Unlike the exorcism which compulsorily requires the presence of a presbyter, The prayers of liberation, Just as we understood them in this article, they can also be guided by a deacon. But I immediately advance that this choice requires a certain prudence and guarantees for the reasons that I will explain later.

The presence of the ordered minister It is not simply important but just essential to guide prayer by updating that mandate that Christ has given those who sent two by two to free and heal (cf.. LC 10,1-20). Therefore, Public prayers guided by lay faithful cannot be promoted, who will have to look at each other from imposing their hands or make gestures reserved for ordered ministers, remaining within the limits and in the terms provided for by the precise provisions dictated by the Church (cf.. the, Blessings, Rome, 1992, 18).

Healing and liberation are united in the same theological gaze, As the sacred congregation for the doctrine of faith clarifies and how it is our priestly and pastoral duty to remember, Because it is only the Lord "the one who frees from all evil" (cf.. Sap 16,8) And in this action of grace the suffering that accompany the disease are also the subject of the profound desire of man of a total liberation that affects not only the corporal component but also the psychic and spiritual component (cf.. art. 1).

The Congregation has a regulatory will referred to those circumstances of public prayer, Leaving aside the sphere of life of private prayer of the faithful, Knowing that each baptized is asked to pray to God for the living and for the deceased and for their own and others conversion. As for the choice of the place, The sacred context strengthens the will to remain united to the Church and its shepherds, It also makes what the Lord recommends in the parable of the good Samaritan (cf.. LC 10,25-37) in which the unfortunate wayfarer is housed in the hospital-hospital represents the church. The image of the brigands is strongly symbolic and has a spiritual sense that has been described by the Fathers of the Church, who have been able to see the work of the devil and his angels who undress the man of the guise of immortality and strike him to death with the weapon of sin until he deprive him of the life of grace.

All other public places that are not a church, A chapel or an oratory are in themselves unsuitable, it should be superfluous to reiterate it, But it is good to do it in the light of the clear and precise discipline of the Church, certainly not of their personal opinions. Just as some channels and communication routes such as phones are unsuitable, cell phones, webcam I like. Unfortunately, cases have occurred, and continue to occur, in which exorcisms were made on the phone, Prayers of liberation on the radio or with the use of the various means of communication, Not to mention the exorcistic and liberating tours organized around Italian hotels on weekends with lots of promotional packages that offer liberations, healing, conversions or, As some confreres as well as sailed as it would now be disenchanted:

«Using the magical offices of certain charismatic shamans, Not only will the deceased of the whole family tree of applicants be freed, But also those who must always come to the world. Indeed, thanks to the power of the peregrifying liberator from one hotel to another, posterity will no longer even need baptism, Why, Once the imposition of the hands is received by a electrocuted in the brain, they will be born directly without original sin ".

A pastoral situation that deserves attention it is that relating to those who are really prey to the spirit of evil but whose situation of possession, obsession or harassment has not yet clearly revealed. The case in which, Following the healing or liberation prayer meetings, The evil spirit can manifest itself suddenly, as forced by the power of prayer combined with the faith of the Orante Assembly. Often there is not even the need for a particular liberation prayer but the simple prayer of praise or an invocation of the Holy Spirit is enough to find itself in a situation similar to that happened to Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum (cf.. MC 1, 21-28; LC 4, 31-37).

Management similar manifestations involves prudence and soul fortress, combined with faith in Christ and obedience to the Church. We must be seriously wondering if for these public prayer meetings there must be no preventive presence of a formally appointed and authorized exorcist, which has the name of Christ and the Church can lawfully intervene. We remember that facing the evil spirit without being exorcist, without being an orderly minister and with his own condition of fragility it is decidedly not very wise. Man has no power on demons and disproportion is the one between an angelic creature and a human creature. It is true that the history of the Church recalls men who have been able to make exorcisms and liberations, But this reality is determined by their particular holiness of life and by a special assistance of divine providence, I like to remember Sant'Antonio Abate, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Chiara d'Assisi, San Salvatore da Horta. All of them were not priests and had not received the appointment of exorcist but their life shone with that holiness to which no devil could resist. Same speech can be done for San Pio da Pietrelcina, who fought his whole life against the devil, Although he has never received the authorization from the Ministry of Exorcist from the Diocesan Bishop and his Provincial Minister and his Provincial Minister.

To conclude: is the cure of the Church protecting the privacy of those who live spiritual manifestations of evil influence with a prompt accompaniment and free from indebted spectacularizations. All those protective situations for these suffering brothers must be taken into account so that their liberation takes place within a reserved context. For this reason, you avoid bringing these brothers suffering in the various tour liberation, exposing them to the public to make testimonies that often have the flavor of advertising campaigns aimed at increasing the "fame" and the self -centeredness of the charismatic healer or liberator, instead of seeking stability through a priest who starts accompaniment. To this it is useful to combine a group of prayer that can help in the spiritual battle elevating fervent intercessions to God. Just as happens in some practices of psychotherapy, The path of liberation and healing must aim to make man again autonomous and master of himself. The therapist does not have to tie the patient to his person, Thus the priest does not have to tie to his person or his charisma the faithful by forcing him to an infinite path of liberation prayers. If after a congruous period of time there are no tangible improvements, If you have not acquired a serious sacramental habitus, If there is no particular evidence, Then it is better to interrupt these prayers and start a more in -depth human and spiritual discernment.

In any case, the problem remains the same over the centuries, without ever having lost topicality, He clearly put him clearly the blessed Apostle Paul by writing to his disciple Timoteo:

«The day will come, indeed, when they will not endure sound doctrine;, ma, having itching ears they, will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, refusing to listen to the truth to turn to fairy tales. But you shall carefully, endure suffering, do the work of the gospel proclaimer, fulfill your ministry " (II Tm 4, 1-5).

Sanluri, 25 March 2025

NOTE

[1] For a greater study of what has been said in this paragraph, please refer to the intervention of Cardinal Mauro Piacenza: Exorcism and sacraments, On the occasion of the XI basic course on exorcism by the National Gris in collaboration with the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in Rome and the International Esorcisti Association. 4 April 2016 Thursday 15 September 2016.

[2] To this list is added how much William Bleiziffer says in his contribution: Exorcism and exorcist in the canonical discipline of the Church, in Studia Universitas Babeş-Bolyai, Demonology today: Theological foundations and practical aspects, 2019, p.154 Note 42.

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PRAYER OF LIBERATION AND HEALING. WHAT IMPRESCABLE BOUNDARY SEPARATES THEOLOGY AND PASTORAL CARE FROM THE DANGER OF FALLING INTO MAGICAL PRACTICES?

«By using the magical offices of certain charismatic shamans, not only will the deceased of the entire family tree of the applicants be liberated, but also those who must always come into the world. In fact, thanks to the power of the liberator wandering from one hotel to another, posterity will no longer even need baptism, because, once they have received the imposition of hands from a lightning-struck person in the brain, they will be born directly without original sin».

— Pastoral actuality —

Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Cap.

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PDF Article print format

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In light of my last two articles on the possible consequences of a way of understanding exorcism, combined with the concept that sees the Devil as a product of marketing and profit (see WHO, WHO), I thought it appropriate to write a third that will have as its subject the Prayer of Liberation.

I would like to clarify that my small contributions are nothing compared to the much more complete and exhaustive works of learned demonologists such as Mgr. Renzo Lavatori or Father José Antonio Fortea.

How can we not remember particularly expert exorcists such as the italians Father Moreno Fiori o.p. and Father Raffaele Talmelli S.P., both of whom have left a flourishing bibliography on demonopathies. We cannot forget, among other things, all the other exorcist priests who carry out their ministry in hardship and who are reliable teachers in whom to find guidance. Considering that some of them have written several books and articles on these topics, I invite the reader to do a targeted bibliographical research with which it is possible to increase the knowledge of these topics. In light of this, my article is only a small tribute and a thank you.

Before precisely defining the Prayer of Liberation, we must first establish its boundaries and areas of competence. First of all, this prayer is not an exorcism but a prayer of intercession with which one turns to God, the Madonna or the Saints to ask for the liberation of a person suffering from the evils caused by the influence of the evil one. With this definition we immediately exclude the clear cases of real diabolical possession, which exist but are very rare; and the cases of diabolical influences such as obsessions and vexations that must require special care on the part of the exorcist priest, combined with a multidisciplinary approach to the case. To be even more precise, let us summarize what the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has established since September 29, 1985 in the Letter to Ordinaries regarding the norms on exorcisms (see HERE) and let us apply what has been said to the Prayer of Liberation:

– In the Prayer of Liberation, it is never permitted, even when it is not a question of diabolical possession, to address the Demon directly.

– Only the exorcist can address the Demon directly, ordering him, in the name of the Church, to leave.

– Lay people cannot, even when it is a question of Prayers of Liberation, use the formulas of exorcism, including that published by Pope Leo XIII, nor use part of said prayer.

– Exorcism can only be practiced by a priest specifically authorized by the Ordinary of the place (cf. Code of Canon Law, 1166; 1172).

– In further defining the Prayers of Liberation, it is necessary to specify that they can be recited by anyone who intends to ask the Lord for healing and deliverance from evil for themselves or for others, on the basis of the invocation already contained in the prayer of the Our Father which says «deliver us from evil», or deliver us from the Evil One.

Asking God to defend us from the Evil One means affirming a twofold truth: the defense from sin, which is the principal work of the Evil One, and the defense from the consequences of sin, the fruits of which are represented by the innumerable spiritual and physical infirmities and frailties that man has experienced since after his creation. Theologically, it is more correct to see liberation and healing as aspects of the same reality of the fight against sin, over which Jesus, the Son of Man, has full power (cf. Mk 2, 1-12).

In the document entitled Instruction on prayers to obtain healing from God, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in the disciplinary provisions establishes:

«”People are called to joy. Nevertheless each day they experience many forms of suffering and pain”. Therefore, the Lord, in his promises of redemption, announces the joy of the heart that comes from liberation from sufferings (cf. Is 30:29; 35:10; Bar 4:29). Indeed, he is the one «who delivers from every Evil» (Wis 16:8). Among the different forms of suffering, those which accompany illness are continually present in human history. They are also the object of man’s deep desire to be delivered from every Evil» (Official document SEE).

The Prayer of Liberation needs to be a prayer approved by the Church precisely because of the delicacy of the subject matter, necessarily containing within itself that corpus of faith believed and professed that well summarizes that theological principle for which the the law of prayer is law of belief. Although the Prayers of Liberation are not liturgical prayers in the true sense, consisting of a specific celebratory and liturgical context, this does not exempt from a less accurate composition of the texts and contents.

But let’s get to the specifics. In my two previous articles, I have already had the opportunity to argue about the prayer of the Our Father that the Lord himself taught to his disciples (cf. Mt 6,9-13; Page 11,1-4) and as such, it is prefigured not only as the first Prayer of Liberation but above all as prayers par excellence. Excluding this, we know that in the new Ritual of Exorcisms there is contained, in Appendix II (NN. 1-10), a section of prayers for the private use of the faithful who find themselves having to fight against the power of darkness. This list can well be considered as an official and approved list of prayers to be said privately and which concern all those who experience an action of the devil that goes beyond ordinary action. It is legitimate to think, therefore, that the inspiring ratio of these prayers does not concern only those who are already subjected to major exorcism but above all those who find themselves experiencing a particular direct assault of the Evil one.

If we want to enter into interpretation, we can assume that the mens of such prayers in the ritual does not only concern the individual believer but also that wider community that finds itself walking the paths of this world of ours marked by the wound of sin and the fomite of concupiscence. It is useful in this sense to draw up an essential case study that could suggest the use of a Prayer of Liberation, as the Church has always done in many litanic prayers that end with the invocation: Deliver us O. Let us think for example:

1) frequent and repeated blasphemy;
2) feelings of hatred, resentment, destruction and despair;
3) hardening in grave sin and in the rootedness to do evil;
4) tearing conflicts in families;
5) situations of war and natural and epidemiological disasters;
6) to those situations of widespread immorality, profanation and scandals that also affect the public life of a country or a nation;
7) to the malevolent and disfiguring management of human relations and between peoples;
8) to persecutions against the Church and Christians because of their faith in Christ;
9) to attacks on the integrity of weak and defenseless human life.

The casistic could also be much more diversified, but the use of a precise and mature discernment accompanied by the Church becomes the best choice to learn to distinguish the origin from the cause. Because, if it is true that certain situations do not always have the Devil as a direct cause, it is also true that at the origin of such evils there is always his deceptive and corrupting action.

Listing the official and approved Liberation Prayers, for completeness of argument I believe that the Universal Prayer that the Church raises to God on Good Friday is worthy of note. The tenth intention, dedicated to all the troubled, reads as follows:

Let us pray, dearest brothers, to God the Father almighty, that he may free the world from every disorder: that he may remove disease, banish hunger, give freedom to prisoners, justice to the oppressed, grant safety to those who travel, the return of those far from home, health to the sick, eternal salvation to the dying. Almighty and eternal God, comfort of the afflicted, support of the troubled, hear the cry of suffering humanity, that all may rejoice in having received in their needs the help of your mercy. Through Christ our Lord (Prayer X, For the troubled).

This supplication, raised on the day in which the Church remembers the Passion of the Lord, has a clear value of a Prayer of Liberation. In fact, it asks God that all evils and situations of fragility and danger for men be removed, to achieve victory against the one who is at the origin of all evil and sin. Although it is part of the official liturgy of Good Friday, nothing prevents a believer from reciting it privately and asking God for help for himself and for others in various situations of tribulation.

Here we finally come to the problem of pastoral abuses in the Prayers of Liberation. In the instruction on prayers to obtain healing from God, the Congregation requires that such prayers preferably take place in a church or another sacred place and that they be led by an ordained minister. Unlike exorcism, which requires the mandatory presence of a priest, the Prayers of Liberation, as we have understood them in this article, can also be led by a deacon. But I must immediately point out that this choice requires a certain amount of caution and guarantees for reasons I will explain later.

The presence of the ordained minister is not simply important but absolutely essential to guide prayer by actualizing that mandate that Christ conferred to those he sent two by two to free and heal (cf. Luke 10, 1-20). Therefore, public prayers led by lay faithful cannot be promoted, who must be careful not to lay on hands or perform gestures reserved for ordained ministers, remaining within the limits and terms established by the precise provisions dictated by the Church (Benedictional, Rome, 1992, 18).

Healing and liberation are united in the same theological vision, as the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarifies and as it is our priestly and pastoral duty to remember, because it is only the Lord «who frees from every Evil» (cf. Wis 16, 8) and in this act of grace the sufferings that accompany illness are also the object of man’s profound desire for a total liberation that concerns not only the physical component but also the psychic and spiritual one (cf. art. 1).

The Congregation has a normative will referring to those circumstances of public prayer, leaving aside the sphere of the private prayer life of the faithful, knowing that every baptized person is asked to pray to God for the living and the dead and for their own and others’ conversion. As regards the choice of place, the sacred context strengthens the will to remain united to the Church and its pastors, and also pastorally realizes what the Lord recommends in the parable of the Good Samaritan (see Page 10:25-37) in which the unfortunate traveler is lodged in the inn-hospital that represents the Church. The image of the robbers is strongly symbolic and has a spiritual meaning that has been described by the Fathers of the Church, who were able to discern the work of the Devil and his Angels who strip man of the garment of immortality and strike him to death with the weapon of sin until they deprive him of the life of grace.

All other public places that are not a church, a chapel or an oratory are in themselves unsuitable, it should be superfluous to repeat it, but it is good to do so in light of the clear and precise discipline of the Church, certainly not of one’s personal opinions. Just as some channels and means of communication are unsuitable such as telephones, cell phones, webcams and the like. Unfortunately, cases have occurred, and continue to occur, in which exorcisms have been performed over the telephone, Liberation Prayers on the radio or with the use of various means of communication, not to mention the exorcism and liberation tours organized around hotels on weekends with promotional packages offering liberation, healing, conversion, or, as some experienced but now disenchanted confrere would say:

«By making use of the magical services of certain charismatic shamans, not only will the deceased of the entire family tree of the applicants be liberated, but also those who must always come into the world. In fact, thanks to the power of the liberator wandering from one hotel to another, posterity will no longer even need baptism, because, once they have received the imposition of hands by charismatic layman struck by lightning in the brain, they will be born directly without original sin».

A pastoral situation that deserves attention is that of those who are truly prey to the Spirit of Evil but whose situation of possession, obsession or harassment has not yet clearly revealed itself. It is not uncommon for the case in which, following prayer meetings for healing or liberation, the Evil Spirit can suddenly manifest itself, as forced by the power of prayer united with the faith of the praying assembly. Often there is not even the need for a particular Prayer of Liberation but a simple Prayer of Praise or an invocation of the Holy Spirit is enough to find oneself in a situation similar to that which happened to Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum (see Mk 1:21-28; Page 4:31-37).

The management of such manifestations requires prudence and fortitude, combined with faith in Christ and obedience to the Church. We must seriously ask ourselves whether such public prayer meetings should not require the prior presence of a formally appointed and authorized exorcist, who has the name of Christ and the Church and can lawfully intervene. Let us remember that facing the Evil Spirit without being exorcists, without being an ordained minister and with one’s own condition of fragility is decidedly unwise. Man has no power over demons and the disproportion is that which exists between an angelic creature and a human creature. It is true that the history of the Church remembers men who were able to perform exorcisms and liberations, but this reality is determined by their particular holiness of life and by a special assistance of divine providence, I like to remember Saint Anthony the Abbot, Saint Benedict of Norcia, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare of Assisi, Saint Savior of Horta. All of these were not priests and had not received the appointment of exorcist but their lives shone with that sanctity that no demon could resist. The same can be said for Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, who fought all his life against the Devil, despite never having received authorization for the ministry of exorcist from the diocesan Bishop and his Provincial Minister.

In conclusion: it is the Church’s duty to protect the privacy of those who experience spiritual manifestations of evil influence with prompt accompaniment free from undue sensationalism. All those situations of protection for these suffering brothers must be taken into due consideration so that their liberation occurs within a private context. For this reason, one should avoid taking these suffering brothers on various liberation tours, exposing them to the public to give testimonies that often have the flavor of advertising campaigns aimed at increasing the “fame” and egocentrism of the charismatic healer or liberator, rather than seeking stability through a priest who begins the accompaniment. It is useful to combine this with a prayer group that can help in the spiritual battle by raising fervent intercessions to God. As happens in some practices of psychotherapy, the path of liberation and healing must aim to make man autonomous and master of himself again. The therapist must not bind the patient to his person, just as the priest must not bind the faithful to his person or his charisma by forcing them to an endless path of Liberation Prayers. If after a suitable period of time there are no tangible improvements, if one has not acquired a serious sacramental habitus, if there is no particular evidence, then it is better to interrupt these prayers and begin a more in-depth human and spiritual discernment.

In any case, the problem has remained the same throughout the centuries, without ever having lost its relevance, as was clearly highlighted in his time by the Blessed Apostle Paul when he wrote to his disciple Timothy:

«For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry» (II Th 4, 3-4).

Sanluri, 25 March 2025

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ORACIÓN DE LIBERACIÓN Y SANACIÓN. ¿CUÁL ES EL LÍMITE INVALICABLE QUE SEPARA LA TEOLOGÍA Y LA PASTORAL DEL PELIGRO DE CAER EN PRÁCTICAS MÁGICAS?

«Al hacer uso de los oficios mágicos de ciertos chamanes carismáticos, no sólo se liberarán los difuntos de todo el árbol genealógico, sino también aquellos que deberán venir al mundo. In fact, gracias al poder del libertador que vaga de un hotel a otro, la posteridad ya ni siquiera necesitará del bautismo, porque, una vez que hayan recibido esta imposición de las manos de alguien golpeado en el cerebro, nacerán directamente sin pecado original».

— Actualidad pastoral —

Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Cap.

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PDF ARTICLE TO PRAY

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Teniendo en cuenta mis dos últimos artículos sobre las posibles derivas de una forma de entender el exorcismo, combinados con el concepto que ve al Diablo como un producto de marketing y de lucro (watch ON HERE and ON HERE), he creído oportuno escribir un tercero que tendrá como objeto la Oración de la Liberación. quiero aclarar que mis pequeñas aportaciones no son nada comparadas con los trabajos mucho más completos y exhaustivos de eruditos demonólogos como del italiano como Monseñor Renzo Lavatori o del padre José Antonio Fortea.

¿Cómo no recordar a exorcistas especialmente expertos como el Padre Moreno Fiori o.p. y el padre Raffaele Talmelli S.P., ambos han dejado una bibliografía muy rica sobre las demonopatías. No podemos olvidar, entre otras cosas, todos los demás sacerdotes exorcistas que desempeñan su ministerio con dificultad y que son maestros fiables en los que encontrar orientación. Considerando que algunos de ellos han escrito varios libros y artículos sobre estos temas, invito al lector a realizar una búsqueda bibliográfica con la que sea posible incrementar el conocimiento sobre estos temas. En vista de esto, mi artículo es sólo un pequeño homenaje y un agradecimiento.

Antes de definir con precisión la Oración de Liberación, debemos establecer sus límites y áreas de competencia. En primer lugar, esta oración no es un exorcismo sino una oración de intercesión con la que se dirige a Dios, a la Virgen o a los Santos para pedir la liberación de una persona que sufre males causados por la influencia del Maligno. Con esta definición excluimos inmediatamente los casos de una posesión diabólica real, que existen pero son muy raros, y los casos de influencias diabólicas como obsesiones y dolencias que deben requerir cuidados especiales por parte del sacerdote exorcista, combinados con una evaluación multidisciplinaria para cada caso.

Para ser aún más precisos, resumamos lo que la Sagrada Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe ha establecido el 29 de septiembre de 1985 in La Carta a los Ordinarios sobre las normas relativas a los exorcismos (watch AQUÌ) y apliquémoslo a la Oración de Liberación:

– En la Oración de Liberación nunca está permitido, incluso cuando no se trate de posesión diabólica, dirigirse directamente al Diablo.
– Sólo el exorcista puede dirigirse directamente al Diablo, ordenándole, en nombre de la Iglesia, que se vaya.
– Los laicos no pueden, aunque sean Oraciones de Liberación, utilizar las fórmulas de exorcismo, incluyendo la realizada por el Papa León XIII, ni utilizar parte de dicha oración.
– El exorcismo sólo puede ser realizado por un sacerdote específicamente autorizado por el Ordinario del lugar (watch Código de Derecho Canónico, cann. 1166; 1172).

Para definir aún mejor las Oraciones de Liberación, es necesario precisar que pueden ser recitadas por cualquier persona que pretenda pedir al Señor la curación y la liberación del mal para sí o para los demás, basándose en la invocación ya contenida en la oración del Padre Nuestro que dice «líbranos del mal», o líbranos del Maligno.

Pedir a Dios que nos defienda del Maligno significa afirmar una doble verdad: la defensa del pecado, que es la obra principal del Maligno, y la defensa de las consecuencias del pecado, cuyos frutos están representados por las innumerables enfermedades y flaquezas espirituales y corporales que el hombre ya ha experimentado desde su creación. Teológicamente es más correcto ver la liberación y la curación como aspectos de una misma realidad de lucha contra el pecado, sobre la cual Jesús, el Hijo del Hombre, tiene pleno poder (cf. MC 2,1-12).

En el documento titulado Instrucción sobre las oraciones para obtener la curación de Dios, la Sagrada Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe establece en sus disposiciones disciplinarias:

«Cada uno de los fieles es libre de elevar oraciones a Dios para obtener la curación. Cuando éstas se realizan en la Iglesia o en otro lugar sagrado, es conveniente que sean guiadas por un sacerdote o un diácono» (cf. ON HERE)

Partiendo de una correcta visión teológica de comprensión del pecado y sus consecuencias, todo creyente tiene la posibilidad de invocar a Dios para la liberación y curación de sus males, así como pedir a sus hermanos oraciones por esta intención. Ya sea que estos males hayan afectado al espíritu o al cuerpo, con una sabia confianza en Cristo médico celestial, los fieles deben utilizar todos los remedios que la gracia y la ciencia humana ponen a disposición para poder aliviar en lo posible tales sufrimientos. En consecuencia, al discernir entre las diferentes dolencias y sus posibles curas, los fieles podrán recurrir a un sacerdote, a un médico u otro especialista en función de su situación actual de enfermedad, sin excluir que todas estas figuras puedan trabajar en comunión para alcanzar una feliz resolución del problema. En este sentido, recordemos una de las piedras angulares de la pastoral de la salud que dice que donde no es posible sanar, siempre es posible y necesario curar.

Las Oraciones de liberación y de curación deben formularse adecuadamente en un contexto de plena fidelidad al depósito de la fe de la Iglesia católica, en comunión con el Magisterio, en obediencia a los sagrados pastores y con firme atención de no caer en formas desviadas y ambiguas que puedan generar equívocos o malentendidos, como se indica en el último documento de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe ya citado.

Sólo incluyendo la liberación en un camino sacramental podremos entonces proceder a preguntarnos cuándo es apropiado recurrir a las llamadas Oraciones de Liberación. Ya he tenido oportunidad de explicar que el camino de liberación y lucha contra el Diablo es muy complejo y comienza con el Sacramento del bautismo, en ese camino diario de conversión y cambio de mentalidad que constituye la base sólida de una vida nueva en el Espíritu Santo, en el que a imagen del Hijo, el Espíritu Santo se derrama en nuestra alma y la voz del Padre nos reconoce como hijos amados (cf. Mt 3,17; MC 1,11; LC 3,22). Resucitados como nuevas criaturas en las aguas del bautismo, somos igualmente conducidos al desierto para afrontar en batalla cara a cara, al espíritu del mal. En Cristo ya tenemos la victoria, su divina humanidad fortalece nuestra humanidad; su divino Espíritu es el mismo espíritu que se nos ha sido dado y con el que podemos decir cada vez que somos tentados: «¡Vete, Satanás!» (cf. Mt 4,10).

Del Sacramento del Bautismo pasemos al Sacramento de la Confesión en el que el Espíritu Santo nos habla como al hijo pródigo y nos invita a regresar al hogar paterno para revestirnos de esa dignidad filial que hemos perdido por el pecado (watch LC 15,17-20). In fact, es precisamente el pecado el que aleja al hombre de Dios, hasta el punto de convencerlo de que el Padre es un obstáculo para la felicidad plena y la plenitud liberadora. En el momento en que el hombre, con sus actos históricos concretos y con sus pecados actuales, abre voluntariamente la puerta de su corazón a la acción ordinaria del maligno, el pecado queda consumado. Y el pecado arrastra al pecado, la repetición de los mismos actos genera el vicio, del que derivan inclinaciones perversas que oscurecen la conciencia, la alteran y llevan al hombre a la incapacidad de evaluar y elegir entre el bien y el mal (cf. Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica, n. 1865).

El camino sacramental que lleva del bautismo a la confesión culmina con la Eucaristía y la Santa Misa. In fact, el camino de la liberación no se detiene sino que continúa de manera muy especial en la Eucaristía, en ese banquete divino de la Santa Misa en el que se realiza la presencia verdadera, real y sustancial de nuestro Redentor. En su verdadero Cuerpo, en su verdadera Sangre, en su verdadera alma y en su divinidad sigue venciendo el poder del maligno ― pecado y muerte ― y con su propia persona vence a quien es la encarnación misma de la “no persona” y conduce al hombre hacia una despersonalización humana y divina.

Ciertos pecados actuales, con los consiguientes vicios, entrañan una clara responsabilidad personal del hombre ― el interrogativo divino por la culpa de los progenitores y por el asesinato de Abel es bien elocuente: «¿Qué has hecho?» (cf. GN 3,13; 4,10) ―, una culpa evidente, que sólo y únicamente puede ser recuperada en el momento en que es desatada con el poder de las llaves que Jesús entregó a Pedro (cf. Mt 16,18-19) y que en el foro sacramental se representa con la absolución. Si prestamos atención, estamos ante la celebración de un verdadero exorcismo, el acto supremo de liberación del hombre, que no es sólo una liberación invocada, sino objetivamente realizada en la realidad.

Creo que es útil saber que el nuevo Misal Romano en el apartado “Misa y oraciones para las diversas necesidades” incluye varias formas específicas para la celebración de la Santa Misa que tienen por objeto los enfermos y moribundos (n. 45-46) para luego pasa a todas aquellas situaciones espirituales de necesidades diversas que podrían ser consecuencia de la intervención del espíritu del mal y del pecado arraigado y endurecido (n. 48 apartado A-B-C).

Teniendo presente esta visión sacramental de la liberación que abarca los tres primeros sacramentos del septenario, me permito tomar prestado un pensamiento del cardenal Mauro Piacenza:

«Los Sacramentos educan continuamente a la lucha: sobre todo los Sacramentos repetibles, aquellos que no imprimen carácter y que pueden celebrarse muchas veces en la vida, significan e indican plenamente la dimensión “agonística” ― de agonal― de la lucha contra el mal».

Este es precisamente este el punto focal del interrogativo que nos hacíamos al inicio de este párrafo: ¿qué tan decisivo es recurrir inmediatamente a las Oraciones de Liberación si no se es parte consistente de un camino sacramental? Sin un habitus sacramental preventivo es necesario evitar las Oraciones de Liberación, especialmente si no se siente su utilidad real, sin una cierta preparación por parte de quien intercede sobre la persona y sin una preparación preventiva y robusta por parte de quien las recibe.

Es necesario aclarar cómo la eficacia de los sacramentales (Exorcismo u Oración de Liberación) en los fieles depende de su vida sacramental. Son los Sacramentos los que imparten la fuerza liberadora y curativa a los sacramentales, que se insertan en esa fe afirmada y vivida diariamente por los fieles. No es casualidad que en la Santa Misa, en el Rito de la Comunión, el sacerdote antes del intercambio de la paz diga:

«Señor Jesucristo, que dijiste a tus apóstoles: “La paz os dejo, mi paz os doy”, no mires nuestros pecados, sino la fe de tu Iglesia, y conforme a tu palabra, concédele la paz y la unidad. Tú que vives y reinas por los siglos de los siglos. Amén”.

Es la fe que el Señor busca en nosotros, esa fe recibida en el bautismo, fortalecida en el reconocimiento de nuestros pecados y en el ejercicio de la caridad mutua, nutrida y aumentada por el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo. Sin fe o falta de ella no hay ningún tipo de liberación o curación, sólo paliativos supersticiosos que muchas veces causan más daño que bien al alma y al cuerpo. Y en esta visión supersticiosa también podemos incluir las cosas santas, como el uso de los sacramentales y la devoción a los santos.

Cuando hablamos de Oraciones de Liberación corremos el riesgo de perdernos en una variedad de formas y contenidos verdaderamente diversos, por lo que es completamente consecuente preguntarnos: ¿qué Oraciones de Liberación hacer? Las colecciones de tales oraciones impondrían un orden que es ante todo de carácter teológico. In fact, la estructura de estas oraciones es extremadamente variada y a menudo resulta difícil rastrear su origen exacto: van desde aquellas aparentemente católicas, pasando por aquellas con un sabor devocional vinculado a algún místico o santo, o aquellas de estilo oriental que hacen un guiño al mundo griego y se incluyen las oraciones de algunas comunidades cristianas reformadas (basta mencionar la práctica de liberación, purificación y curación del árbol genealógico de Kenneth McAll) para terminar con las fórmulas con sabor claramente esotérico.

La ausencia de un canon transcrito constituye el problema más evidente, y de esto deriva la ausencia de una colección canónica aprobada sobre la cual basarse. Ésta es una de las cosas que más favorece la posibilidad de recurrir a una improvisación salvaje. Ciertamente los sacerdotes tienen la posibilidad de recurrir al Libro de Bendiciones que ofrece innumerables indicaciones, pero el campo de lucha contra el diablo y sus influencias es tan específico que requiere una mayor atención a fin de evitar la búsqueda morbosa de la suplica y la invocación más decisiva, aún a costa de traspasar la frontera entre ortodoxia y ortopraxis.

La Oración de la Liberación se delinea como una oración invocativa que pertenece a la esfera de los sacramentales. Esto hace necesario verificar al menos dos criterios en ella:

– que sea aprobado por la autoridad eclesiástica competente;
– que tenga en su composición una construcción dogmática y litúrgica muy precisa que no deja lugar a confusiones o malentendidos.

En el Directorio sobre la piedad popular y Liturgica, la Congregación para el Culto Divino y la Disciplina de los Sacramentos establece:

«Aunque redactados con un lenguaje, por así decirlo, menos riguroso que para las oraciones de la Liturgia, los textos de las oraciones y fórmulas de devoción deben encontrar su inspiración en las páginas de la Sagrada Escritura, en la Liturgia, de los Padres y del Magisterio, y estar concordados con la fe de la Iglesia. Los textos estables y públicos de oraciones y de actos de piedad deben llevar la aprobación del Ordinario del lugar» (Documento integral ON HERE: Introducion, 16).

La Oración de Liberación necesita ser una oración aprobada por la Iglesia precisamente por la delicadeza del tema, que necesariamente abarca en sí ese corpus de fe creída y profesada que bien resume aquel principio teológico según el cual la “the law of prayer” is “law of belief” y viceversa. Aunque Las Oraciones de Liberación no son oraciones litúrgicas propiamente dichas, por pertenecer un contexto celebrativo y litúrgico específico, esto no las exime de una composición menos precisa en los textos y contenidos.

Pero vayamos a lo concreto. En mis dos artículos anteriores ya tuve oportunidad de argumentar sobre la oración del Padre Nuestro que el mismo Señor enseñó a sus discípulos (cf. Mt 6,9-13; LC 11,1-4) y como tal, está prefigurada no sólo como la primera Oración de Liberación sino sobre todo como oraciones por excelencia. Aparte de esto, sabemos que el nuevo Ritual de los Exorcismos contiene, en el Anexo II (núms. 1-10), una sección de oraciones para uso privado de los fieles que se ven obligados a luchar contra el poder de las tinieblas. Esta lista bien puede considerarse como una lista oficial y aprobada de oraciones que se deben decir en privado y que conciernen a todos aquellos que experimentan una acción del Diablo que va más allá de la acción ordinaria. Es razonable pensar, por tanto, que la ratio inspiradora de estas oraciones no concierne sólo a quienes ya están sometidos al exorcismo mayor, sino sobre todo a quienes se encuentran experimentando un particular ataque directo del Maligno.

Queriendo desequilibrarnos en la interpretación, podemos suponer que la mens de tales oraciones en el ritual no concierne sólo al creyente individual sino también a esa comunidad más amplia que se encuentra recorriendo los caminos de este mundo nuestro marcado por la herida del pecado y el combustible de la concupiscencia. En este sentido, es útil trazar una casuística esencial que pueda sugerir el recurso a una Oración de Liberación, como siempre ha hecho la Iglesia en muchas oraciones de letanías que concluyen con la invocación: libera nos Domine. Pensemos por ejemplo:

1) a la blasfemia frecuente y repetida;
2) al sentimientos de odio, resentimiento, destrucción y desesperación;
3) al endurecimiento en el pecado grave y el radicalización arraigada en hacer el mal;
4) a los conflictos devastadores en las familias;
5) a las situaciones de guerra y desastres naturales y epidemiológicos;
6) a aquellas situaciones de inmoralidad generalizada, profanación y escándalos que afectan también a la vida pública de un país o nación;
7) a la gestión malévola y desfigurante de las relaciones humanas y entre los pueblos;
8) a las persecuciones contra la Iglesia y los cristianos a causa de su fe en Cristo;
9) al atentado a la integridad de la vida humana débil e indefensa.

La casuística también podrían ser mucho más diversificada, pero el uso de un discernimiento preciso y maduro acompañado de la Iglesia se convierte en la mejor opción para aprender a distinguir el origen de la causa. Porque, si es cierto que determinadas situaciones no siempre tienen como causa directa al Diablo, también lo es que en el origen de tales males siempre está su acción engañosa y corruptora.

Enumerando las Oraciones de Liberación oficiales y aprobadas, en aras de la integridad argumentativa, creo que la Oración Universal que la Iglesia eleva a Dios el Viernes Santo es digna de mención. La décima intención, dedicada a todos los que están atribulados, dice lo siguiente:

«Oremos, queridos hermanos, a Dios Padre todopoderoso, para que libre al mundo de todos sus errores, aleje las enfermedades, alimente a los que tienen hambre, libere a los encarcelados y haga justicia a los oprimidos, concede seguridad a los que viajan, un buen retorno a los que se hallan lejos del hogar, la salud a los enfermos y la salvación a los moribundos.

Dios todopoderoso y eterno, consuelo de los afligidos y fortaleza de los que sufren, escucha a los que te invocan en su tribulación, para que todos experimenten en sus necesidades la alegría de tu misericordia. Por Jesucristo, nuestro Señor. Por Cristo nuestro Señor» (Oración X, Por los atribulados).

Esta súplica elevada el día en que la Iglesia recuerda la Pasión del Señor tiene un claro valor de Oración de Liberación. In fact, pedimos a Dios que sean eliminados todos los males y situaciones de fragilidad y peligro para los hombres, para alcanzar la victoria contra aquel que está en el origen de todo mal y pecado. Aunque forma parte de la liturgia oficial del Viernes Santo, nada impide que un creyente lo recite en privado y pida ayuda a Dios en diversas situaciones de tribulación para sí mismo y para los demás.

Por último, llegamos finalmente al problema del abuso pastoral en las Oraciones de Liberación. En la instrucción sobre las oraciones para obtener la curación de Dios, la Congregación requiere que dichas oraciones se realicen preferentemente en la iglesia u otro lugar sagrado y que sean dirigidas por un ministro ordenado. A diferencia del exorcismo que requiere obligatoriamente la presencia de un sacerdote, las Oraciones de Liberación, tal como las hemos entendido en este artículo, también pueden ser dirigidas por un diácono. Pero anticipo enseguida que esta elección impone cierta prudencia y garantías por las razones que explicaré más adelante.

La presencia del ministro ordenado no es simplemente importante sino precisamente indispensable para dirigir la oración, realizando el mandato que Cristo dio a aquellos a quienes envió de dos en dos para liberar y sanar (cf. LC 10,1-20). So, no se pueden promover oraciones públicas dirigidas por fieles laicos, quienes deben tener cuidado de no imponer manos ni hacer gestos reservados a los ministros ordenados, manteniéndose dentro de los límites y plazos establecidos por las disposiciones precisas dictadas por la Iglesia (cf. Blessings, Rome, 1992, 18).

Curación y liberación están unidas en una misma perspectiva teológica, como aclara la Sagrada Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe y como es nuestro deber sacerdotal y pastoral recordar, porque es sólo el Señor «quien libera de todo mal» (cf. Sab 16,8) y en esta acción de la gracia los sufrimientos que acompañan a la enfermedad son también objeto del profundo deseo del hombre de una liberación total que afecta no sólo al componente corporal sino también al psíquico y espiritual (cf. art. 1).

La Congregación tiene una voluntad normativa referida a a esas circunstancias de la oración pública, dejando fuera el ámbito de la vida de oración privada de los fieles, sabiendo que todo bautizado está llamado a que ruegue a Dios por los vivos y los difuntos y por la conversión propia y ajena. En cuanto a la elección del lugar, el contexto sagrado refuerza el deseo de permanecer unidos a la Iglesia y a sus pastores, además implementa pastoralmente lo que el Señor recomienda en la parábola del buen samaritano (cf. LC 10,25-37), en la que el infortunado viajero es alojado en la posada-hospital que representa a la Iglesia. La imagen de los bandidos es altamente simbólica y tiene un significado espiritual que fue descrito por los Padres de la Iglesia, quienes pudieron ver la obra del Diablo y sus Ángeles que despojan al hombre del manto de la inmortalidad y lo golpean con el arma del pecado hasta privarlo de la vida de la gracia.

Todos los demás lugares públicos que no sean una iglesia, una capilla o un oratorio son en sí mismos inadecuados; sería superfluo reiterarlo, pero es bueno hacerlo a la luz de la disciplina clara y precisa de la Iglesia, y ciertamente no de las opiniones personales. Así como algunos canales y vías de comunicación como teléfonos, móviles, cámaras web y similares no son adecuados. Unfortunately, se han producido y se siguen produciendo casos en los que los exorcismos se han llevado a cabo por teléfono, las Oraciones de Liberación por la radio o mediante el uso de diversos medios de comunicación, por no hablar de las giras de exorcismos y de liberación organizadas en los hoteles italianos los fines de semana con paquetes promocionales que ofrecen la liberación, la curación, la conversión o, como dirían un cohermano experimentados y ahora mucho desencantados:

«Al hacer uso de los oficios mágicos de ciertos chamanes carismáticos, no sólo se liberarán los difuntos de todo el árbol genealógico, sino también aquellos que deberán venir al mundo. In fact, gracias al poder del libertador que vaga de un hotel a otro, la posteridad ya ni siquiera necesitará el bautismo, porque, una vez que hayan recibido la imposición de manos de alguien golpeado en el cerebro, nacerán directamente sin pecado original».

Una situación pastoral que merece atención es la relativa a aquellos que son verdaderamente presas del Espíritu del Mal pero cuya situación de posesión, obsesión o vejación que aún no se ha manifestado. No es raro que, tras reuniones de oración por la curación o liberación, el Espíritu Maligno pueda manifestarse súbitamente, al verse forzado por el poder de la oración combinado con la fe de la asamblea orante. A menudo ni siquiera es necesaria una determinada oración de liberación, sino que basta una simple oración de alabanza o una invocación del Espíritu Santo para encontrarse en una situación similar a la que le sucedió a Jesús en la sinagoga de Cafarnaúm (cf. MC 1, 21-28; LC 4, 31-37).

Gestionar acontecimientos similares implica prudencia y fortaleza, combinadas con fe en Cristo y obediencia a la Iglesia. Debemos preguntarnos seriamente si en tales reuniones públicas de oración no debería existir la presencia preventiva de un exorcista formalmente designado y autorizado, que en nombre de Cristo y de la Iglesia pueda intervenir legalmente. Recordemos que afrontar el Espíritu del Mal sin ser exorcista, sin ser ministro ordenado y con la propia condición frágil es decididamente imprudente. El hombre no tiene poder sobre los demonios y la desproporción es la que existe entre una criatura angelical y una criatura humana. Es cierto que la historia de la Iglesia recuerda a hombres que supieron realizar exorcismos y liberaciones, pero esta realidad está determinada por su particular santidad de vida y por una especial asistencia de la divina providencia; me gusta recordar a San Antonio Abad, a San Benito de Nursia, a San Francisco de Asís, a Santa Clara de Asís, a San Salvador de Horta. Todos ellos no eran sacerdotes y no habían recibido el nombramiento de exorcistas pero sus vidas brillaban con esa santidad a la que ningún demonio podía resistir. Lo mismo puede decirse de San Pío de Pietrelcina, que luchó contra el diablo toda su vida, a pesar de no haber recibido nunca autorización para el ministerio de exorcista por parte del obispo diocesano y de su ministro provincial.

Para concluir: es responsabilidad de la Iglesia proteger la privacidad de aquellos que experimentan manifestaciones espirituales de influencia maligna con un acompañamiento rápido y libre de espectacularización indebida. Todas aquellas situaciones de protección de estos hermanos sufrientes deben ser tenidas en cuenta para que su liberación se produzca en un contexto confidencial. Por esta razón, debemos evitar llevar a estos hermanos que sufren a diversas giras de liberación, exponiéndolos al público para dar testimonios que a menudo tienen sabor a campañas publicitarias destinadas a aumentar la “fama” y el egocentrismo del carismático sanador o libertador, en lugar de buscar la estabilidad a través de un sacerdote que inicia el acompañamiento. Para ello es útil unirse a un grupo de oración que pueda ayudar en la batalla espiritual elevando fervientes intercesiones a Dios. Como sucede en algunas prácticas de psicoterapia, el camino de liberación y curación debe tener como objetivo volver a hacer al hombre autónomo y dueño de sí mismo. El terapeuta no debe atar al paciente a su persona, así como el sacerdote no debe atar al creyente a su persona ni a su carisma, obligándolo a recorrer un camino infinito de Oraciones de Liberación. Si después de un tiempo adecuado no se observan mejoras tangibles, si no se ha adquirido un habitus sacramental serio, si no hay pruebas particulares, entonces es mejor interrumpir estas oraciones y comenzar un discernimiento humano y espiritual más profundo.

En cualquier caso, el problema sigue siendo el mismo a lo largo de los siglos, sin haber perdido nunca su actualidad, como claramente destacó en su tiempo el beato apóstol Pablo escribiendo a su discípulo Timoteo:

«Porque vendrá tiempo cuando no soportarán la sana doctrina, sino que teniendo comezón de oídos, se amontanarán maestros conforme a sus propias concupiscencias; y apartarán de la verdad el oído y se volverán a las fábulas. Pero tú, sé sobrio en todo soporta las aflicciones, haz obra de evangelisa, cumple tu ministerio» (2 Tim 4, 1-5).

Sanluri, 25 de Marzo 2025

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