Across the nation, exorcists have increasingly taken to platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify to discuss manifestations of evil, and apparently some bishops believe it has gone too far.

Until Father Gabriele Amorth of Rome began publicly discussing exorcism during the pontificate of John Paul II, the names of exorcists were for the most part closely-guarded secrets.

That is no longer the case, and moves of reining it in are clearly afoot.

It started with Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, whose ministry was banished from the archdiocese by Cardinal Timothy McElroy of Washington D.C. in June, ostensibly due to his use of social media and public remarks the priest made about UFOs (expressing what he clearly stated was a personal view that they are demonic). Monsignor Rossetti already had semi-retired to Florida but remains active with his St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, a major resource for the spiritually oppressed and one that continues to function.

While operating for many years in the nation’s capital, Monsignor Rossetti officially is a priest in the Diocese of Syracuse, New York, where he is in good standing with his bishop.

Other public exorcists are falling like dominoes.

Some have criticized them as forming a new form of “celebrityhood,” especially in the case of the next one to be “silenced,” Father Chad Ripperger of Denver, like Monsignor Rossetti a highly learned and effective priest whose archbishop asked him to take a year off all public appearances, especially on social media, where his appearances on major venues such as “The Shawn Ryan Show” and “Tucker Carlson” have drawn millions of views.

While those appearances were lauded for teaching a huge, largely uninformed public about the intensification of evil in our time, he was scored for making certain dark but unspecific remarks about the Vatican; involving himself in politics; and posing with Shawn Ryan in the chapel of his monastery with a semi-automatic rifle Ryan had begifted him. (At one point Father Ripperger was seen at Mar-A-Lago but told Spirit Daily that was for a private event and had nothing to do with politics or the current U.S. president.)

The “silencing” of Father Ripperger occurred immediately after another exorcist popular on the social-media circuit, Father Carlos Martins, sued an assistant to Father Ripperger and a podcaster for calling Father Martins a “fraud.”

Rumor is afloat that Father Martins has been asked by his bishop to end or at least likewise take a reprieve from his enormously popular weekly podcast, but as yet it is just that, a rumor; we have yet to confirm it. Rumors are also afloat that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops may be formulating guidelines.

The latest is Father Daniel Reehil of Nashville, Tennessee, who on his own podcast announced he will be “taking 2028 off.”

“I met with my bishop in August because we meet once a year as well, and the first thing he said was, ‘How are you?’ And I said, ‘I’m doing okay.’ And he goes, ‘Because it looks like you’re very busy.’ I said, ‘I am very busy, more than I want to be. I don’t like being this busy,’ and I’ve taken off 2028 completely. There’s nothing booked that year. I’m just going to be a parish priest that year.’ ‘Yeah [he said], because you need a year to just rest and recoup and recharge.’ So, 2028, nothing…

“He said, ‘I think it would be good to just take a step back and regroup.’ He said that out of genuine concern, and I think that’s probably what happened with Father Ripperger.”

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