Squeezing a toddler’s eyeballs and shoving his thumb into her tiny nose a Catholic priest purges a child of the devil, one of many exorcisms he carries out every day. Flicked with holy water, her face smeared with olive oil and poked violently in the stomach, two-and-a-half-year old Angel bursts into tears as she is rid of the evil spirits that lurk within her.
The child wriggles to free herself but her mother holds on firmly, insistent that she endures the exorcism to protect her from the sorcery that many in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) believe controls their lives. Possesed: It is thought there are 50,000 child ‘witches’ living on the streets of the capital Kinshasa as a result of these beliefs; children like Dorcas, eight, and Therese, 18. These youngsters are accused of horrific ‘crimes’, including eating the flesh of their own relatives
Daily Mail also said this about one of these “Catholic Priests”—
In the capital Kinshasa, at the Gallicane Catholic Church, Father Alexis Katziota Mungala talks almost matter of factly of his work releasing thousands of children from the devil. Exorcism is a daily ritual he performs in his church.
‘These witches they eat human flesh, they drink human blood,’ Father Alexis told MailOnline. ‘It is the work of the devil. Witchcraft kills the love within the child. It fills them with hate, it makes them eat their father, fight with their brother.
‘Witchcraft is part of our tradition; it is part of Congolese culture. ‘Children can become infected with sorcery but we carry out exorcisms to help children find their families again.’