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BORÅS

Swedish town rocked by second child exorcism

Another teenage girl in Borås, western Sweden, has been subjected to physical abuse such as kicks, beatings and electric shocks, as her parents tried to exorcise her from evil spirits.

Swedish town rocked by second child exorcism

“I can confirm that the investigation is under way and we are hoping to complete it before the summer as there is a risk the statute of limitations will come into effect otherwise,” said prosecutor Daniel Larsson to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

According to the paper, the girl, who was ten at the time, had been too frightened to let anyone know what was going on at the time.

However, when the parents approached the Swedish social services with an application for a grant in order to take their daughter back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to have her properly exorcized, she was taken into protective custody by the state.

It wasn’t until last year, when the girl was thirteen that she finally plucked up the courage to tell her foster parents about the torture-like treatment she had been forced to endure.

According to DN, the girl spoke about being kicked and beaten badly with electrical cables. At one point her parents held her down and tried to stick live wires in her mouth to release the evil spirits through electrical shocks.

At one point she was beaten so badly that the parents were forced to bring her to the hospital where they made her say she had been assaulted by other school children, when in fact it had been her father striking her.

After hearing her story, the foster parents reported the girl’s biological parents to the authorities.

This is not the first case of child exorcism reported in the Borås area. The verdict against another set of parents as well as two priests in a local congregation – all accused of a similar crime – will be given on Monday.

Both set of parents are originally from the Congo-Kinshasa area.

According to Dagens Nyheter they are also connected to the controversial religious community in Borås called The River, where the two priests in the previous exorcism case were active.

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RELIGION

Students at Spanish college forced to take exorcism class

A publically funded college in Spain has told students that it is compulsory to attend a course given by a priest who is an expert in exorcisms.

Students at Spanish college forced to take exorcism class
Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, who is leading the seminar on exorcism. Photo: Public domain/Wikimedia Commons.

The University College of Barberán and Collán (Colegio Mayor Universitario Barberán y Collán) is connected to the public research institute Complutense University of Madrid, and is also funded by Spain’s Defence Ministry.

But some of its curriculum doesn’t seem quite typical of a publicly-funded institute.

The college is requiring its 196 students – who are all members of military families – to attend a theological conference focused on “the fields related to the devil, exorcisms, being possessed and hell”, according to newspaper El Diario.

A woman who answered the phone at the college told The Local that there was seminar about exorcism, but could not immediately confirm other details.

The seminar called “The Evil” is set to take place on Thursday evening and will be led by Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, author of such works as “Summa dæmoniaca” – a treatise on demonology which includes a manual for exorcists.

The session is part of a series of lectures, which fall under organized activities that the students are required to attend, unless they have a valid excuse – as signs announcing the “obligatory” exorcism lecture remind students.

While El DIario writes that the required lecture has caused some outrage among students, no one has yet submitted a formal complaint.

The school does not have to disclose its activities to the Complutense University of Madrid.

The college receives funding in two ways: from monthly fees from the students, and through a subsidy from the Defence Ministry.

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