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Alarm in Italy as growth of Satanism creates “market” for consecrated hosts

ROME, Italy, Jul. 15, 2004 (CNA) - Fr. Aldo Buonaiuto, director of an “emergency help line” that assists young people wanting to get out of satanic cults, expressed alarm this week at the growth of Satanism, which has created a “market” for consecrated hosts in Italy.

In statements published in the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, Fr. Buonaiuto explained that “a proliferation of cults exists which practice black masses, with the profanation of consecrated hosts, rape and torture.”

“We know of cases of consensual vampirism, and also the assaulting of young people who have been drugged in the course of ritualistic orgies.”

According to Fr. Buonaiuto, “A true ‘market’ for consecrated hosts exists. They sell for 80-500 euros, depending on the size of the host, the prominence of the church from which they were stolen, and who consecrated them.”

“The highest price is placed on those that are consecrated in the churches of Rome, above all those closest to the Vatican. They are stolen in two ways: from the tabernacle, but also at the time of Holy Communion,” he said.

“Some cults perform rituals with the consecrated hosts while under the influence of LSD or cocaine, led frequently by ex-priests who have offered themselves in the service of Satan,” he told Famiglia Cristiana.

According to Fr. Buonaiuto, the proliferation of these cults is very much connected with “the loss of the sense of the sacred.” “Man needs to fill himself with something, and today the market is full of superficial alternatives, among them, Satanism,” he concluded.

-- - (David@excite.com), August 07, 2004

Answers

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-- - (David@excite.com), August 07, 2004.

"They sell for 80-500 euros, depending on the size of the host, the prominence of the church from which they were stolen, and who consecrated them."

A: Apparently the poor souls don't realize that the slightest particle of a consecrated host is exactly the same thing as the largest complete consecrated host; or that a host consecrated by the Pope himself is no different than a host consecrated by any priest on earth. Jesus is Jesus. He doesn't come in different sizes and qualities.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), August 07, 2004.


this sounds like an "urban legend". is this story true?

i once heard some fabrication that the catacombs beneath paris had the skeletons of babies conceived by priests and nuns. this came from a fundamentalist christian bulletin board i was reading a few years ago.

im skeptical about the story of consecrated hosts being used in satanic rituals. especially in italy, for some reason. but, who knows anymore.

-- jas (jas_r_22@hotmail.com), August 09, 2004.


It's actually pretty moronic. Satanists believe in the consecrated host. They believe it has become the Body of Christ. They hold it in their hands knowing that it is God present before them yet they desecrate it in favor of a belief in jealous, miserable nothingness.

How petty.

Our God presents Himself before them lovingly, a belief that they hold, yet they choose nothingness; Satan present only in misery. What Satanists have in fact chosen is misery.

-- Brian (Brian@Brian.com), August 09, 2004.


Jas, I don’t think it’s an urban legend. Satanism is flourishing. Try googling “Satanism” and see how many sites come up (but don’t spend too long on them). Sure some “Satanists” do it as a trendy joke, but some are deadly serious. And Satan likes to come even when people call on him on jest, or out of idle curiosity. I believe Satanism is ironically (or maybe not) very active around Rome itself.

-- Steve (55555@aol.com), August 10, 2004.


Steve's right. Satanism is alive and well in Rome and other Italian cities. I lived in Rome for 4 years and helped out at various in- city and suburb parishes.

What a lot of Americans don't know is that "Italy" was founded as a single nation only in 1870 - by an avowedly ANTI-CATHOLIC movement composed of continental masons (atheist). Throughout the 1900's a large number of Italians were NOT Catholic at all. From the 1950's onward the Communists began to grow in power and cultural influence especially by means of the arts and media - again, constantly undermining the faith in Christ as well as morality.

I spent a week in a small town in Tuscany where 90% of the towns folk were NOT Catholic at all! The lone parish had lost 800 families to Communism and masonry in the last 40 years.

Rome - the capital of Italy, has had a Communist mayor for years - and much of the city is composed of non-Catholic Italians as well as non-Catholic Muslims. There are huge billboards allowed on all public streets with full frontal nudity (basically, Playboy centerfolds). They roll them out especially before Christmas and Easter.

Prostitution is a huge problem - in the suburbs as well as in the city and that vice combined with drugs and the night-life produces millions of youth with absolutely no concept of Christian ideals or morals. I saw with my own eyes the XXX pornographic comic books that Italian boys can access in their local drug stores - even in the smallest villiages up north or down south. They all learn their basic catechism, get confirmed and then leave the Church to join the culture which is completely hedonistic - while THINKING that they know all there is to know about "Catholicism" because they learned their prayers and the commandments.

So, yes, while the Catholic Church has its HQ in the 106 acres of the Vatican, and has some influence in Italy, the country itself is Catholic in name only. There are millions of Italian families who have NEVER been Catholic. There are even small towns which are completely PAGAN (Yes, they even have small temples to Jupiter - the god, not the planet). New Age cults and the Mafia of course, are also rampant.

-- Joe (joestong@yahoo.com), August 10, 2004.


I can't speak to whether Satanism is flourishing, but the last post said "continental masons" and said they're atheists. Are the aforementioned "continental masons" distinct from the Masons?

My understanding was that the Masons are an offshoot of the Knights Templar, and that in order to be a Mason, you need to profess belief in God. (I don't know that you have to be Christian.)

Just curious...

-- kasia (kasialilac@yahoo.de), August 13, 2004.


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