Father Pat Collins claimed “There is a tsunami of evil washing over Ireland.”
Friday night’s The Late Late Show had a series of very interesting guests, but the one that seemed to cause the biggest reaction in viewers was Father Pat Collins, who came on to discuss his history and future of working within the field of demonic possession and exorcism.
Host Ryan Tubridy questioned Collins about his work, and specifically what a person might expect to see, feel, or hear during an exorcism:
Clip via The Late Late Show
Collins also went on to say that he normally doesn’t experience fear during this circumstances, but the times he does are usually when he is genuinely concerned that the “possessed” person might infect him with whatever has manifested itself within them.
Collins stated that there was a huge increase in demand for his works both in Ireland and around Europe, due to what he called a “tsunami of evil”.
However, there was a comment made during the interview, which caused a intense reaction from viewers, when they noted that Father Collins had connected some cases of suicide to potentially being oppressed by the devil:
“What is much more common, and what a lot of lay people don’t realise it, is that you can be oppressed by the devil. So the devil can impinge on your inner life, on your spiritual life, and you will lose control in those areas. Now, for example, and I have to be very tentative when giving these examples, but some people who will have persistent thoughts of committing suicide, for example, they could be – mark my words – could be oppressed by an evil spirit.
“The Bible says that the evil spirit is a murderer, so he’ll often want people to kill, and one of the people that you can kill is yourself. So although people could have suicidal feelings for other, psychological reasons, sometimes they will want to commit suicide because of this spiritual power impinging on them.”
Here are just some of the tweets that viewers sent in reaction to the comments:
How dare that man sit there and lecture those who have committed suicide calling it evil when Priests have been responsible for some of the most heinous acts of evil ever committed on our citizens. Disgusting stuff, shame on you, RTE. #latelate 😠😤
— Chris Hardiman ☕🎸🚨🏈📺🏳️🌈🇮🇪 (@AJoyForever83) February 15, 2019
Can’t understand why a mental health expert is not on to counter this drivel. Especially his linking of suicide and the devil #LateLate #latelateshow
— Some Dad (@_SomeDad) February 15, 2019
Eh, dangerous territory there Fr. Connecting possession & suicide, even when adding a 'some' qualifier, is a very unwise contention to voice on national tv. #LateLate #LateLateShow
— Carole (Ducky) (@IrPsych) February 15, 2019
A person doesn't *commit* suicide. Fortunately the tragedy of suicide is not a criminal offence. A person takes their own life. Semantics matter in this discussion. #latelate #exorcism
— Aoife (@irishginge) February 15, 2019
Even a vague hint that suicide could be linked to being “possessed” is irresponsible at best. I think there’s far too much unfounded claims about mental health being left unchallenged in the media #LateLate
— Mark Smyth (@psychpolis) February 15, 2019
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