The former Holy Rosary Church which will host the movies has been closed since 1980 and is no longer owned by the Catholic Church.

While McCafferty says he has no problem with the church building being turned into an Italian restaurant, which is on the cards, he draws the line at horror movies invading the once-sacred space.

"What is their motivation for showing those types of films in what was once a sacred building that will have such special memories of spiritual occasions for lots of people?"

"Should they not be sensitive to the fact that many people in that area have fond associations and is sacred to the memories of many people that were baptized or married or buried there?"

The Belfast Film Festival organisers are defending their choice of venue, saying the locations chosen will add an extra dimension to the screening.

"We think the stone cold surroundings of an abandoned church will make for a suitably chilling viewing experience for The Exorcist," a spokesman says.

Catholic film critics have said that for the most part, The Exorcist tries to portray a real exorcism as authentically as possible.

Catholic reviews of The Omen tend to urge caution, as the film can be seen as depicting evil in a victorious light.

Source

• CNA
• The Tablet
• Catholic Register
• Image: belfastfilmfestival

William Friedkin told a masterclass at the Cannes film festival about the episode and its impact on him.

"I was invited by the Vatican exorcist this month to shoot and video an actual exorcism which . . . few people have ever seen and which nobody has ever photographed," he said.

Mr Freidkin said he was shocked at how close the ceremony was to the exorcism depicted in his 1973 movie.

"I don't think I will ever be the same having seen this astonishing thing.

"I am not talking about some cult, I am talking about an exorcism by the Catholic Church in Rome," he said.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has yet to confirm Mr Freidkin's claims.

The Exorcist movie, based on a novel by William Peter Blatty, recounts the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to win her back through a rite conducted by two priests.

The book was based on the 1949 case of an American teenager called Roland.

Mr Friedkin, 80, said the Catholic "archdiocese of Washington DC asked Blatty to change the gender (in the novel) so as not to draw attention to the young man".

Having read extensively about this case, Mr Freidkin said he believes the boy was genuinely possessed.

"Everything having to do with medical science and psychiatry was attempted.

"This young man suffered from afflictions very similar to what's in the film, as hard is that is to believe."

"I believed in this story," Mr Friedkin told the audience in Cannes, referring to the original possession of the boy.

"I made this story as a believer. I'm not Catholic, I don't to church, I don't belong to a church or a synagogue."

Sources

• The Guardian
• Daily Mail
• Image: The Guardian

William P. Blatty is promoting his book titled "Finding Peter; The True Story of the Hand of Providence and Evidence of Life After Death".

Aleteia reported Mr Blatty told a Washington, DC audience that he believed his son was in a righteous state when he died in 2006, having recently been to Confession, at his mother's urging.

"I'm good with God," his son told him.

Peter, a former heroin user, died of heart failure after eating pizza and drinking beer one night.

Two months later, Mr Blatty noticed something unusual about a favourite tree of Peter's in the family backyard in Maryland.

It had grown buds in the middle of winter, but lost them the next day.

Later, a broken halogen light stayed on for half a minute.

Mr Blatty does not discount the possibility that each incident was an unexplained natural event; the subtitle of his book uses the word "evidence" rather than "proof" to show that life extends beyond the grave.

In his latest book, Mr Blatty wrote that during the seven years since his son's death, "he has given Julie, his mother, and me unremitting strong evidence that his death, like all human death, is a lie".

Mr Blatty said his latest book is the culmination of a writing career which he views as an apostolic act.

If there are demons, there must be God, he concluded.

Mr Blatty wrote his best-selling novel "The Exorcist", later made into a famous movie, after hearing about successful and previous failed attempts by priests to exorcise a Maryland boy.

In 2013, Mr Blatty petitioned the Vatican to revoke the Catholic status of his alma mater Georgetown University, unless the institution implemented Ex Corde Ecclesia, the apostolic constitution that defines the mission of Catholic colleges.

Sources

• Aleteia
• Image: Huffington Post