Instead, he said such action can be done diocese by diocese, and he encourages each bishop to do so. “Every bishop is the chief exorcist of his own diocese,” Msgr. Esseff said. “Anytime anyone with the authority uses his power against Satan, that is powerful. Every priest and bishop has that power.”

During the exorcism of a diocese, Msgr. Esseff explained that the bishop calls on the power of Jesus over every court, every single institution, every individual and every family. “The whole country would have such power if bishops would exorcise their dioceses.”

In 2013, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., performed a minor exorcism at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield in response to the governor’s signing same-sex “marriage” into law on that day. ...