The Pope’s Exorcist Might Be Russell Crowe But Who He’s Playing Claims He Did Thousands Of Exorcisms Before He Died

Russell Crowe’s new movie, The Pope’s Exorcist, is based on one of the most famed exorcists in the world, Gabrielle Amorth. Let’s get to know a little about the real Pope’s Exorcist, exorcisms, and the demon they fight in the movie, that guy that dates back to before Jesus and comes back in popular culture, every so often.

Angela Musolesi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gabriele_Amorth_2013.jpg

Gabriele Amorth Waged A Lifelong War Against Demons

Gabriele Amorth was born in Modena, Italy, on May 1st, 1925. His family were believers and devout in their Catholic Faith. According to Amorth’s family history, his father and grandfather were lawyers. After fighting the fascists with the Italian resistance movement in World War II, Amorth studied law.

It wasn’t until August of 1947 that Amorth entered into the Congregation of the Society of St. Paul. Four years later he was ordained as a priest. It wasn’t until much later, in 1986, that Gabriele Amorth began to practice exorcisms and that was after he was appointed as an apprentice…