“Those in charge of training seminarians, in light of the Gospel and of the Church teachings, should instruct them about the real existence, substance and nature of the demonic world”. Fr. Francesco Bamonte, chairman of the International Association of Exorcists (IAE), made this appeal during his address to the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Clergy that took place a few days ago in Rome. The scant attention paid by seminaries and theological faculties to the demonic world today, and even its denial by some professors who instead should be responsible for the integral – spiritual, pastoral and theological – formation of seminarians, is an extremely worrying factor”. Moreover, he observed, “widespread ‘ignorance’ of these phenomena, in addition to severely undermining the training of seminarians and candidates to religious life, makes them: unable to guarantee a profound spiritual direction – after they are ordained priests and have to carry out all of their pastoral duties; unable to offer the faithful a suitable catechesis on the devil’s activities; and unable to address the serious problems related to the rise in occult practices we have seen in recent decades, which has opened the door for the devil’s ever more virulent and powerful action in society”. It would be good for “seminarians to be able to meet with an exorcist priest at least once during their formation so that they may listen to his testimony, in a proper manner, and learn about the ministry he carries out”. In this way, “the figure of the exorcist priest would become more familiar to would-be priests, thereby paving the way for a more fruitful cooperation in the future between non-exorcist priests and exorcist priests, for the good of our brothers and sisters afflicted by the evil one”.