A Nebraska Catholic priest who boasted about performing an exorcism on Congress to rid the nation’s Capitol of a demon name ‘Baphomet’ because it is “dissolving the country,” is facing backlash from the Catholic church for his involvement at the rally.
Rev. David Fulton, a pastor at St. Michael in Central City and St. Peter in Fullerton, told videographer Eddie Becker that he performed an exorcism on the Capitol.
He was seen standing in a crowd of Trump supporters wearing a clerical collar and holding up a book entitled: ‘Minor Exorcisms and Deliverance Prayers in Latin and in English’.
“Got this going,” Fulton says, holding up the book. “Got these exorcism prayers going, there’s priests that’re using them.”
Fulton described the crowd and atmosphere as “awesome” and echoed false claims about the election.
“It’s good to see so many people who care about the country, concerned about the country, people who know about what’s going on, the obvious steal,” he said. “And hopefully we’ll be able to take this into our local communities and do something.”
The chancellor for the Archdiocese of Omaha, Deacon Tim McNeil told the Omaha World-Herald on Friday that Fulton is not an exorcist and did “misuse” his position as a priest by wearing his clerical collar.
But, he will face no sanctions or punishment for attending the rally because he “did not break any civil or ecclesial laws while in Washington, D.C. He attended the rally as a private citizen.”
“Whether or not Fr. Fulton broke any laws, I condemn his participation in the event in the strongest terms,” Omaha Archbishop George Lucas said in a statement.
Fulton told his congregation that he left the protest before it turned violent and didn’t know about it until he returned to his hotel. On video, Fulton directly indicates that he had been inside the Capitol.
He said the videographer “wasn’t of good intention” and “was saying anti-Catholic stuff.”
“I was trying to lead him to, maybe, information that could maybe change his mind, or at least suppress his anti-Catholicism. And so he edited the video and he ended up weaponizing it,” Fulton said.
In response Becker released the full unedited video to his YouTube page. “He basically implicates himself,” Becker told the Washington Post.
In the video Becker asks Fulton if he performed an exorcism at the Capitol. Fulton responds, “Yes, I did.” Becker then asks what it was like and Fulton says, “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
“The Rite of Exorcism may only be performed by a priest duly trained and appointed by his bishop,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “Fr. Fulton has since clarified that, contrary to his YouTube interview, he did not attempt a formal exorcism, but led others in prayer. Fr. Fulton should not have claimed to have special and particular knowledge about demonic activity.”
