ROME — Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington said his decision to remove Monsignor Stephen Rossetti as an archdiocesan exorcist in early June was driven by the priest’s public exercise of the ministry, not by his claims linking UFOs to demonic activity, in one of the cardinal’s first interviews since the controversy erupted.
“It wasn’t touching on the question of UFOs,” Cardinal McElroy told Catholic News Service in an interview at the Pontifical North American College. “My major objection is that I think the traditional role of an exorcist is a very private one. It’s a sacred one.”
Msgr. Rossetti, who built more than 146,000 followers on YouTube and tens of thousands more on Instagram through the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, posted in May that “probably many, if not most, UFO sightings are in fact demons.” The remark drew widespread attention as public interest in unidentified anomalous phenomena — the government’s official term for UFOs — has grown. Cardinal McElroy said in a press release that “statements made by Msgr. Rossetti 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.”
The removal triggered debate among Catholics over whether the Archdiocese of Washington was taking a position on extraterrestrial life or disciplining a priest for presenting personal speculation as doctrine. Christopher Baglow, director of the Science and Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, told The New York Times that Msgr. Rossetti may have overstepped by “putting forward his own doctrine as something Catholics should accept.” U.S. Vice President JD Vance has previously weighed in on the broader question, saying, “I don’t think they’re aliens. I think they’re demons anyway.”
Cardinal McElroy told CNS that exorcists serve in “serious cases” entrusted to them by their bishop and that the office should not extend beyond that pastoral mission. “I think the more traditional approach of an exorcist is a private, within-the-life-of-the-Church ministry to help individuals who are in crisis and seem to be demonically possessed,” he said. “It shouldn’t go beyond that for people who are doing exorcism.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ own webpage on exorcisms states that “the preservation of confidentiality is important.”
Msgr. Rossetti issued a statement after his removal expressing sadness and asking forgiveness “for any ways in which I have failed to remain fully obedient to the Magisterium of the Church.” He said the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal would continue its ministry independently.
The controversy coincides with a fresh wave of Catholic engagement with the UFO question. Filmmakers released a trailer for “Not of This World: Catholic Faith in the Age of Disclosure,” a documentary series produced by Catholic filmmaker Sam Sorich featuring interviews with theologians, UFO researchers, national security officials, clergy, and exorcists. A private screening of Steven Spielberg’s film “Disclosure Day” was held at Rome’s Cinema Barberini in June, attended by clergy, journalists, and students from pontifical universities. Michael Severance of the Acton Institute, who attended, said the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life would not necessarily conflict with Catholic belief: “I don’t doubt that if there are intelligent or human-like forms in the universe that they also couldn’t be made perfect or they couldn’t fall or have the same destiny of salvation that we do.”
Veteran Vatican journalist Delia Gallagher said the issue is likely to grow in significance. “This is a topic that is destined to become more important,” she said. “The Vatican will eventually — it could be years — have something more concrete to say about it.”