Exorcist Fr. César Truqui, warned everything harming the family, including divorce, pleases the devil.

"A demon who specializes in the attack on the family, [is] also cited in the story of Tobias, called 'Asmodeus,'" he said.

In the Old Testament book, the demon killed seven of Sarah's husbands.

Saint Raphael chained Asmodeus in the desert.

The demon "is present" in many exorcisms, Truqui said.

He said he saw the demon when he helped with "exorcisms by Father Gabriele Amorth and Father Francisco Bamonte."

The recently-deceased Amorth was a renowned exorcist in Rome.

He performed an estimated 70,000 exorcisms over the course of 29 years.

In the US, the number of Catholic priests officially designated as exorcists has quadrupled during the past 10 years.

Experts from the Catholic Church in Italy and the US say exorcists are in urgent demand.

They say this is a result of a sharp rise in people dabbling in Satanism and the occult

There is now a Satanic Temple in the US.

Exorcism can need many sessions. Each time the rite is administered it counts as one instance.

Truqi said he remembers a young couple who wanted to get married, but the woman had to be exorcised to be set free.

He said the demon was furious and threatened Amorth to prevent the marriage, otherwise he would kill the young woman.

"It was a threat from the Liar which in fact did not happen."

He also said the devil tires to attack families through ideologies and lifestyles.

Individualistic thinking and the spread of divorce are some of the ways the devil does this.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image:Telegraph.co.uk