The priest who inspired the Warner Brothers movie “The Rite,” which starred Sir Anthony Hopkins is in Phoenix for the premiere of a new docudrama about the rite of exorcism.
Father Gary Thomas, a priest in Saratoga, Calif. and one of more than a dozen Vatican-certified exorcists in the U.S., appears in “The Rite of Exorcism: Myth, Mystery & Hope.”
“Exorcism is topic that draws an emotional reaction instantaneously,” Thomas told 3TV’s Scott Pasmore. “Everyone has an opinion on the topic and very few people know much about it.”
Thomas, 53, told Pasmore that he himself has “performed exorcisms on six people a total of approximately 50 times.”
He has seen about 100 people in the past four year who believed they were possessed by the devil, according to a piece in the Los Angeles Times.