Romanian priest sentenced for exorcism death

[Ian David]

February 19, 2007

BUCHAREST, Romania --A Romanian priest who led a dayslong exorcism ritual for a young nun that ended with the woman's death was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison. Four nuns were also sentenced in the case. The dead nun, Maricica Irina Cornici, believed she heard the devil talking to her. She was treated for schizophrenia, but when she relapsed, Daniel Petru Corogeanu -- a monk who served as the priest for the secluded Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania -- and the four other nuns tried exorcism.

Cornici, 23, was tied up for several days at the without food or water and chained to a cross. She died of dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation.

The court in the northeast city of Vaslui convicted Corogeanu and the nuns of holding Cornici captive, resulting in her death. One of the nuns, Nicoleta Arcalianu, was sentenced to eight years in prison, and the other three -- Adina Cepraga, Elena Otel and Simona Bardanas -- received five-year sentences.

<snip>

In 1999, when the Vatican issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils, it urged its priests to take modern psychiatry into account in deciding who should be exorcised.

Orthodox churches also regularly perform exorcism rituals, but Corogeanu's methods were criticized by church officials as excessively harsh, noting that he had dropped out from the church's religious education program.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/02/19/romanian_priest_sentenced_for_exorcism/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

Yes, these are the people we want telling us how to "defend" marriage. :sarcasm:

[Evoman]

1. Fucking idiots. Its the 21st fucking century. Read a fucking book that isn't 2000 years old.

There is no such thing as demons.

[Rydz777]

3. Beginning to wonder

I would agree with you but as I observe the current Administration I am beginning to wonder.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Sounds a bit like "The Devils of Loudon" by Aldous Huxley

or the film version "The Devils" by Ken Russell - sort of the Catholic equivalent of the Witches of Salem, and The Crucible. Mass hallucination, exorcism, killing people - that sort of thing. You would have thought that after 400 years, they'd have been able to spot the priests likely to kill someone, though.

[immoderate]

4. Well, you can't prove that she wasn't hearing the voice of the devil.

That would be proving a negative.

--IMM

[DeSwiss]

5. But we can prove she's not hearing anything at all now.

At least not with the aural equipment she was born with.....
:shrug:

[Az]

7. Lose the word prove

It doesn't belong in discussions of reality. Proof can only happen in abstract constructs such as math. In reality and science we use evidence.

It would be proper to say that the idea that she was actually hearing the voice of the devil is an unsupported claim. Mean while there is ample evidence of neurological anamolies that can account for such conditions. Thus it is likely that she was experiencing a neuroligical anamoly and that exorcism would be exactly the wrong thing to do.

[immoderate]

8. Az, I was playing off the cliche, "You can't prove a negative."

You also forgot to include whiskey.

--IMM

[struggle4progress]

6. Death of nun in exorcism stuns Romanian church (Seattle PI 2005)

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

By ALISON MUTLER
The Associated Press

... The Orthodox Church has strongly condemned the exorcism ritual in Tanacu as "abominable." It has banned Corogeanu from the priesthood and excluded the four nuns from the church.

Orthodox monasteries and convents have flourished in Romania since the 1989 fall of Nicolae Ceausescu's brutal communist regime, which suppressed religion.

The Tanacu convent was built in 2001 by a private donor and had not yet been sanctified by the church.

Cornici's death and the revelation that Corogeanu was ordained as a priest without having finished his theological studies have prompted the church to impose stricter rules for entering monasteries, including psychological tests.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002347982_exorcism25.html