Spanish students to undertake compulsory course on exorcisms

Local media reports of 'outrage' among students

(Getty Images)

Students in Spain are reportedly being made to undertake a course on exorcisms as part of their studies.

The series of compulsory seminars are being taught at the University College of Barberán and Collán, which is part of the Complutense University of Madrid - one of the oldest institutions in the world - and is also said to be funded by Spain’s Ministry of Defence.

According to Spanish newspaper El Diario, the college’s entire student body - all of whom are members of military families - will have to attend the theological conference centred on “the fields related to the devil, exorcisms, being possessed, and hell.”

Local media reports have described how some students have expressed “outrage” at the new move, however, no one is yet known to have made any formal complaint.

A spokeswoman for the college confirmed to The Local there was, indeed, a new seminar on exorcism, though the site reports she was unable to confirm any other details.

Entitled ‘The Evil’, the seminars will be carried out by Roman Catholic priest, Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, author of the 2004 book, Summa daemoniaca, a treatise on demonology which also includes a ‘how-to’ exorcism manual.

In 2010, the priest made headlines in Colombia after telling a local newspaper the existence of the devil was real, but that he did not have“horns, wings, or a tail.”

A similar week-long course in Italy, ‘Exorcism and Prayer of Liberation’, has been known to attract hundreds of students each year, including priests, their assistants, medical professionals, and teachers.

Delivered by the Sacerdos Institute at an educational institute known as the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, the course’s site describes how it “delves into the reality of the ministry of exorcism with its theoretical and practical implications.”

It also covers a wide range of issues and subject areas, including spiritual, medical, neuroscientific, pharmacological, and criminological in order to allow students to be able to distinguish whether cases are genuine of of a medical nature.