“To resist temptation is simple,” he encouraged, although it might not always be easy. “You must avoid the occasions of temptation, of course, and you must have a Christian and spiritual life. You must pray, you must try to behave correctly, and to love the people you meet every day and the people with whom you live.”
Dermine said the next most common form of demonic activity is oppression. Sometimes, people can have many problems, often of a health, business, or family nature, which cannot be explained by natural causes.
If the cause is deemed to be demonic oppression, these problems are called “preternatural,” and may require the assistance of an exorcist.
“This is the most common extraordinary action of the devil,” Dermine said, while temptation is considered an “ordinary” demonic action.
Dermine warned that people should not immediately conclude that physical problems or suffering are a result of demonic oppression, because they are most often explainable by natural causes.
If someone has visited a doctor, or a psychologist if applicable, and no natural explanation could be found, then they may visit an exorcist. “When a person comes and asks for a blessing for a specific problem, the first thing an exorcist must ask is, did you see the doctor?” the priest said.
Dermine, who is French Canadian, has lived in Italy since shortly before his priestly ordination in 1979. An exorcist since 1994, he serves in the Italian Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo.
He spoke about the life of an exorcist during the 14th course on exorcism and prayers of liberation, which is organized by the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum university and GRIS (The Socio-Religious Information and Research Group).
The week-long course, held this past May, does not train new exorcists, but is intended to provide a general formation to priests and lay people on what exorcism is and related topics. Dermine said that many of the laypeople attending the course are there at the request of their bishop, so they can learn how to better support and assist priests at exorcisms.
Dermine told CNA that his lecture also addressed some of the common mistakes exorcists make, one of which is to confuse preternatural (demonic) manifestations for supernatural charisms, which come from God.