Your Eminence Robert Cardinal McElroy, of Washington, D.C., two weeks ago you “fired” a prominent exorcist and his spiritual-deliverance team  because, as your statement said, he had stated in a social-media post that many if not most “UFOs” and “aliens” may be demons, and warned the faithful (we think rightly) to stay away.

It is a time when high strangeness is now in the mainstream. (Movies. Podcasts. File releases.) You also mentioned the exorcist’s use of social media.

But let us stay on the topic of “UFOs.”

We must note how many times Jesus Himself warned of spiritual deceptions and cast evil spirits out—and in fact ordered His Apostles and disciples to do the same.

Yet rarely does one hear a priest, bishop, cardinal, or deacon so much as mention evil spirits even when they are part of the Mass or Gospel readings that day. Instead, homilies veer elsewhere.

Your Eminence, by our count, “evil spirits,” “demons,” or “unclean” spirits have been mentioned at least twenty-four times in readings this year (which is just half done). If you add the words “devil,” “devils,” and Satan,” the number of mentions over the past twenty-six weeks balloons to forty-seven.

And so the question: How many times a year do the average U.S. priest, bishop, and cardinal address those readings? How many times do we adhere to Christ’s admonishment in Matthew 10:8: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Is listening to Him not the ultimate obedience?

[Resources: On the Demonic]