As head of the recently established ministry team for the Pastoral Care of Consolation and the Ministry of Exorcism (DEPAC, by its Spanish acronym) of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, Bishop José Trinidad Zapata Ortiz highlighted the importance of a "mature faith" in the face of the proliferation of esoteric cults into which not a few Catholics have fallen.
"We are in need of a mature, committed, and convinced faith," the bishop of Papantla shared with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, lamenting that "unfortunately, many of our parishioners who are baptized do not live out their faith in an orthodox manner" and end up seeking a "solution to their difficulties in other areas."
"Having the solution within their own Church in pastoral practice and by living out the sacraments, they go looking for solutions elsewhere," falling "into spiritist practices or other types — satanic ones, or the so-called 'Santa Muerte,' [a Mexican folk saint and deity personifying death], etc."
It is in this way that some people end up facing various spiritual difficulties, he explained.
This denotes a lack of faith, he pointed out, for "when there is total trust in the Lord, we know that there may be difficulties, that there may be problems, but that, ultimately, the Lord permits all of this to bring about a greater good and to guide us along the right path."
"The Christian life is not a victorious life devoid of pain or problems; rather, one embraces this as a path, following the Lord," he explained.
A new pastoral ministry to address spiritual suffering
The Mexican bishops established the new pastoral ministry during their general assembly in November 2025 and appointed Zapata as its head. The prelate explained to ACI Prensa that the decision is framed within the "growing need to address these situations of spiritual, moral, and physical suffering of some persons, which may have a malevolent origin."
"Therefore, it was deemed appropriate to officially support the exorcists who were already undergoing training courses," as well as to "accompany them" and foster "unity and cohesion regarding this entire issue at the national level."
However, he emphasized that DEPAC "will not focus solely on ministering to exorcists" but rather aims at a comprehensive "pastoral ministry of consolation," for "what people often need is consolation — to be listened to, to receive guidance, and to have prayers offered on their behalf — so that they may follow a path and a process in following the Lord."
All priests, he underscored, as pastors of their parishioners, must "listen to their faithful to see what difficulties or sorrows they are enduring or suffering."
For this reason, it is necessary to foster among priests a "serious and profound" formation in theology, spirituality, morality, and pastoral practice regarding these matters, in order to be able to attend to them.
The ordinary action of the devil
While the Mexican prelate emphasized that it is necessary to address problems related to the "extraordinary action" of the devil such as demonic possession, he noted that "it is through his ordinary action that the devil causes so much evil in the world."
It is "through temptation that many of us fall." It's how the devil "produces the worst evils in the world and not [through] possession," which happens once in a million cases.
Zapata also urged against exaggerating the power of the devil in our lives: "It should neither be denied nor seen everywhere," for we must also "assume our own responsibility."
"The devil can't do what God doesn't permit him to do, and what we don't permit him to do," he said. "Thus, if he wreaks havoc upon us, it is because we first allowed him to do so. We venture onto his paths and let him into our lives."
The formation the Church seeks to promote in Mexico
With these challenges in mind, the recently established DEPAC aims to "form and guide all our priests so that they may recognize divine action, the action of the devil, and human action, and know how to discern," while also ensuring they are equipped to "attend to special cases of extraordinary action" of the devil.
Along these lines, the new ministry team has already been conducting spiritual exercises and courses for priests, and has scheduled new training sessions for July of this year including lay experts in various disciplines who assist in this pastoral ministry, such as physicians and psychologists.
Outlining the qualities required of an exorcist priest, Zapata noted: "We simply need a priest grounded in doctrine, a good priest, generally speaking."
"This is not a matter of having a charism; it's a matter of a mandate issued by the bishop to a priest whom he sees has the qualities for this," he pointed out; consequently, every prelate "must evaluate the qualities the priest has."
However, he emphasized that it is considered important "that he be a Eucharistic priest, a Marian priest, a priest who enjoys caring for those in need, especially the sick."
Thus "a priest who is, let us say, upright, transparent, and honest," he summarized.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
