AI is ushering in a new era of Satanism, exorcists warn religious leaders: ‘A great power’
Is He the “Tech-Exorcist”?
As religious divisions deepen worldwide, one enterprising Christian leader may have found a way to unite faiths against a shared threat.
Father Luis Ramirez Almanza, a Mexican priest, is inviting rabbis, imams, and evangelical preachers to a specialized exorcism training course that focuses on combating modern evils—including the rise of AI-driven Satanism, according to The Times of London.
“Artificial intelligence is a great power—a force for both good and evil—and can therefore be used for devil worshipping,” Father Ramirez Almanza said at a press conference announcing his Course on the Ministry of Exorcism and Prayer of Deliverance.
Hosted at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, a Vatican-affiliated university, the course has attracted over 170 participants interested in learning exorcism techniques.
While the training does not grant participants the authority to perform exorcisms—a permission reserved for diocesan bishops under Catholic Canon Law—the university’s website promises to “deepen knowledge of the ministry of exorcism and deliverance prayer in a serious and interdisciplinary way.” This year, the program emphasizes the use of AI by groups involved in Satanism.
Father Fortunato Di Noto, a Sicilian priest and child protection advocate who will speak in May, said some satanic groups are already experimenting with AI.
“We believe these groups are using AI to generate images of children involved in satanic rites,” Di Noto told The Times of London. “Using children appeals to them because it’s a form of power being exercised over the innocent.”
David Murgia, who runs Catholic Risk and Insurance Services, a research group monitoring cults and fringe religious movements, added that law enforcement has flagged AI as a tool for occult groups to conceal their activities online.
“Police tell us satanists are using AI to hide their content online and communicate with each other,” Murgia said.
Other sessions at the course will explore how modern occultists are using generative AI to create ritual symbols and imagery, giving centuries-old mysticism a high-tech twist.
The Vatican has been increasingly vocal about the risks of uncontrolled technology.
At a recent Vatican seminar on artificial intelligence, Bishop Paul Tighe, a senior official at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, warned that AI could facilitate “biological weapons, propaganda, disinformation, and systems beyond human control.” Church leaders have also cautioned that AI could reshape society in ways that threaten human dignity, privacy, and livelihoods.
For now, the Rome training focuses on a far older adversary—even if it now operates at digital speed.
AI has already made its way into modern worship. In 2024, a church in Switzerland introduced an AI-powered hologram of Jesus capable of hearing confessions, a spectacle that went viral online.
The installation, called Deus in Machina, features a screen inside a confessional booth at St. Peter’s Church showing an animated Jesus. The avatar listens to visitors and responds in real time, with synchronized lip movement delivering guidance from a virtual pulpit.
For clergy warning about AI-driven Satanism, these developments suggest the centuries-old struggle between faith and evil is entering an unexpectedly high-tech era.
About Post Author
