Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Aversa, Caserta, Italy · 2025

Italy: priest's conviction for maltreatment during unauthorized exorcisms confirmed by Cassation

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

priest acting as a self-styled exorcist

Organization

Diocese of Aversa

Spiritual nexus

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.

Appellate history

2025-12-02 · undefined

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Documented coercion mechanisms

family's belief that their daughter was possessed
beatings, coercion and forced starvation framed as deliverance

Primary 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.

Related record

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