The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has removed a priest as an exorcist and cut ties with the priest’s nonprofit organization over comments the priest made about UFOs and demons.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington, said in a statement that Monsignor Stephen Rossetti of the Diocese of Syracuse, New York, had been removed as an exorcist. McElroy said statements Rossetti made “linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center’s recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism.”
Rossetti, president and founder of the St. Michael Center For Spiritual Renewal in the District of Columbia, has been an exorcist in Washington for 19 years, according to his website. He wrote the book “Diary of an American Exorcist.” He is also a psychologist and worked in the psychological treatment of priests. He has led hundreds of “exorcism and deliverance sessions,” his website says.
Rossetti recently commented on UFOs in a video posted to social media.
“The Church has said there’s nothing incompatible with the faith about believing that there’s life on other planets,” he said. “I personally don’t think there is.
“But there’s a danger here, and I want to raise that as an exorcist,” he said. “Demons like to hide. They don’t want us to know they’re around. … It’s my personal belief that probably many if not most of these UFO sightings are in fact demons.”
Vice President JD Vance, a converted Catholic, has made similar comments on UFOs. He told “The Benny Show” in March: “I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”
In a statement posted to the St. Michael Center website, Rossetti said that he was “saddened” by the decision and that the center plans to “continue its ministry elsewhere.”