Italy: priest's conviction for maltreatment during unauthorized exorcisms confirmed by Cassation
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Material that narrows or disputes the record
Appellate history
2025-12-02
Maltreatment conviction final.
Record class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
priest acting as a self-styled exorcist
Organization
Diocese of Aversa
Archive classification
This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.
The child was delivered to the priest by her own family because of his claimed power over possession — the exorcistic authority is what placed her under his control and reframed the violence as treatment.
- Exorcism or deliverance
- Pastoral or clerical authority
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2025-12-02 · conviction confirmed at final instance
Italian courts; Corte di Cassazione. The Court of Cassation confirmed on 2 December 2025 a 13-year sentence against former priest Michele Barone for maltreatment of a 13-year-old girl during unauthorized 'exorcism' sessions — beatings, psychological coercion and a forced starvation diet — after her family submitted her to him believing she was possessed. Separate sexual-violence counts concerning other alleged victims were dropped for insufficient evidence; only the maltreatment conviction is final. He was laicised by Pope Francis.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- family's belief that their daughter was possessed
- beatings, coercion and forced starvation framed as deliverance
Cited record
Sources
- national newspaper court reporting final appellate disposition 'Don Michele Barone, condanna definitiva in Cassazione', Il Fatto Quotidiano, Dec. 2025.
Reports the Cassation confirmation, the exorcism setting, and the laicisation.
Source provenance
Source access and integrity log
This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.
- Source and tier basis
- https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/ Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: final-appellate-disposition. SHA-256 7f9d2b45f7de1c60bfe735373bada5bdfc405b0094e52ff8b4abf4c7447f00c4
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-20 · Preserved
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
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Related record
Related cases · Christian institutions & contexts
- 2018 · Harrisburg, PA, USA PA grand jury: 301 priests, 1,000+ child victims documented ('weaponized' faith)
- 2009 · Dublin, Ireland Ryan Commission: abuse 'endemic' in Catholic-run institutions (state inquiry)
- 2021 · Paris, France CIASE/Sauvé Report: est. 216,000 abused by French clergy since 1950
- 2019 · Vatican City McCarrick: ex-cardinal found guilty by Vatican canonical process, laicized
- 2010 · Oregon City, OR, USA Beagley faith-healing death: parents convicted (criminally negligent homicide)
- 2014 · Philadelphia, PA, USA Schaible: 3rd-degree murder, second child dead of untreated pneumonia
- 2001 · London, UK Victoria Climbié: murder convictions; possession belief; Laming Inquiry followed
- 2012 · London, UK Kristy Bamu: kindoki 'deliverance' murder convictions (30/25-yr minimums)