Amorth led a colourful life. As a teenager, he was part of the Italian resistance against the Nazis and their fascist collaborators. After the war, he studied law and was briefly deputy to the future Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti.

The use of exorcism has waxed and waned over the centuries. During the mid-20th century, many clergy thought exorcism had no place in modern Catholic theology. These rituals encompass readings of the Psalms and Gospel, reciting of specific “exorcistic prayers”, holy water, a crucifix and the performing of the sign of the cross. In 1987, Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope's personal exorcist, an earthy, scooter-riding, humorous, practical man, visits an Italian village where a man is seemingly possessed by a demon. With the local priest, Amorth enters the room where the man is tied up. While exorcising him, using a Saint Benedict Medal sacramental, Amorth taunts the demon, challenging it to possess a pig; when it does, the pig is killed with a shotgun. a b Rubin, Rebecca (April 12, 2023). "Box Office: Nicolas Cages Renfield, Pope's Exorcist No Match for Super Mario Bros. Movie". Variety. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023 . Retrieved April 12, 2023.

In the early 1990s, Amorth established the International Association of Exorcists, becoming its longtime president. The association received Vatican approval in 2014 and now holds a biannual exorcism conference. The Pope's Exorcist DVD. Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, The Pope's Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy's terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden. Grobar, Matt (July 29, 2022). " The Pope's Exorcist: Alex Essoe & Daniel Zovatto Join Russell Crowe In Supernatural Thriller From Screen Gems". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022 . Retrieved September 19, 2022. The Pope’s Exorcist is a supernatural horror thriller film, based on the life and works of Father Gabriele Amorth, an Italian Catholic priest and an official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome. Amorth claimed that during his lifetime, he performed tens of thousands of exorcisms, which he documented in his memoirs, which in turn, form the basis of the film. While the church raised many questions about Amorth, he worked at the behest of the Pope himself and helped several people from possessions of the devil. Amorth’s claim of performing over 60,000 exorcisms requires further investigation. In his biography An Exorcist Tells His Story Amorth clarified an exorcism was an individual prayer or ritual ranging anywhere from “a few minutes” to “many hours” in length. He could thereby perform dozens of exorcisms per day, usually on troubled souls appearing on his doorstep.

The Pope assigns Amorth to visit a possessed boy named Henry in Spain. Henry, his mother Julia, and his rebellious teenage sister Amy had traveled from America to take possession of a mysterious old Spanish abbey, Julia's husband's sole bequest to his family after he died in a car accident where Henry was present. The traumatized Henry has not spoken since the accident. Following a sinister fire, workers who were restoring the abbey so the family could sell it, leave. Henry starts behaving bizarrely, and supernatural events unfold; serum chemistry panels and MRI show nothing abnormal. Looking at the trailer, you might find the overarching tone of The Pope’s Exorcist similar to other exorcism classics like The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Rosemary’s Baby, and some more modern titles like The Conjuring or Prey for the Devil. However, The Pope’s Exorcist differs from these popular films in the genre in its narrative and the fact that the plot is derived from the real-life experiences of a priest who worked as an exorcist. So, while it is supernatural fiction on one hand, it’s also sort of a biographical story on the other. The film was released on digital formats on May 2, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on June 13. [25] The film was later streamed on Netflix starting August 16, 2023. [26] Reception [ edit ] Box office [ edit ] This archetype continues to be enduring. It represents a traditional form of spiritual authority seldom seen in our modern society. If an individual has the power to exorcise demons this can be seen as a validation of their faith, the Devil and God.Squires, John (June 27, 2022). " The Pope's Exorcist: Russell Crowe Starring in Horror Movie from Overlord Director". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022 . Retrieved June 28, 2022.