From Zenit:
From May 11 to 15, scholars, clergy, medical experts and law-enforcement officials from around the world will gather for the twentieth edition of the Course on the Ministry of Exorcism and the Prayer of Liberation, an initiative organized by the Sacerdos Institute of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum together with the Gruppo di Ricerca e Informazione Socio-religiosa (GRIS) of Bologna.
Yet the twentieth edition also turns its attention to new cultural dynamics that have emerged in recent years. Among the themes announced by the organizers are the possible use of artificial intelligence in magical or occult practices, the links that some criminological studies identify between satanic ritual abuse and networks of pedophilia or child pornography, and the relationship between certain alternative therapies—often associated with the broad spiritual currents of the New Age—and occult or esoteric beliefs. The twentieth edition will devote particular attention to the role of lay collaborators involved in this ministry. In many dioceses around the world, qualified laypeople assist priests in listening to those seeking help and in accompanying them spiritually. Organizers say this reality requires proper formation, careful discernment and close collaboration with ecclesiastical authorities.