Prayer of Exorcism at Baptisms
Date: October 19, 2025
Author: Fr. Edward McIlmail
Question: I have a question regarding the celebration of the sacrament of baptism. Can we omit the Prayer for Exorcism and Anointing before Baptism during the celebration? In my previous parish, I always included this part when administrating this sacrament. However, at my newly assigned parish, the parish priest told me that this can be omitted, and he instructed me to do so. Could you please give me some theological explanation and pastoral advice in this regard? — H.N., Melbourne, Australia
Answer: The Rite of Baptism of Children says the following regarding this part of the rite, which follows the reception of the child:
"Invocation of the Saints
"The celebrant begins the litany of the saints: Holy Mary, Mother of God. All: Pray for us. Saint John the Baptist. All: Pray for us. Saint Joseph. All: Pray for us. The names of other saints are added, especially the child’s namesake. The litany concludes: All holy men and women. All: Pray for us.
"Prayer of Exorcism. The celebrant prays over the child.
"Celebrant: Almighty and ever-living God, you sent your only Son into the world to cast out the power of Satan, spirit of evil, to rescue man from the kingdom of darkness, and bring him into the splendor of your kingdom of light. We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her). We ask this through Christ our Lord.
"All: Amen.
"Anointing Before Baptism
“The celebrant continues: Celebrant: We anoint you with the oil of salvation in the name of Christ our Savior; may he strengthen you with his power, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. All: Amen.
"He anoints the child on the breast with the oil of catechumens."
The introduction to the Rite of Baptism contains the following indications:
"17. Then the liturgy of the word is directed toward stirring up the faith of the parents, godparents, and congregation and toward praying in common for the fruits of baptism before the sacrament itself. This part of the celebration consists of the reading of one or more passages from holy Scripture; a homily, followed by a period of silence; the general intercessions, with its concluding prayer, drawn up in the style of an exorcism, to introduce either the anointing with the oil of catechumens or the laying on of hands."
Later however, in the indications regarding "adaptations by Conference of bishops, or by bishops," the introduction states:
"24. As is indicated in the Roman Ritual, the following matters are left to the discretion of the conferences: ... 2. The anointing with oil of catechumens may be omitted (nos. 50, 87)."
The numbers 50 and 87 refer to the place in the rite where this part of the celebration is found. In the United States version of the rite there is a rubric added as No. 51:
"If, for serious reasons, the conference of bishops so decides, the anointing before baptism may be omitted. [In the United States, it may be omitted only when the minister of baptism judges the omission to be pastorally necessary or desirable.] In that case the celebrant says once only:
"May you have strength in the power of Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns for ever and ever."
I have been unable to track down the official version of the rite for Australia, nor to find out whether the Australian bishops' conference has made any norms regarding omitting this part of the rite.
I did find a rite of baptism issued in 2022 from one Australian diocese which contained the complete rite along with the exorcism prayer and anointing and which made no mention of the possibility of omitting them. While this does not mean that such norms do not exist, it does demonstrate that there is no general rule at the national level excluding the possibility of using them.
Therefore, we can say that the possibility of omitting the prayer and anointing does exist in the form determined by the bishops. If we take as our cue the U.S. norms, if the bishops have allowed the omission, then it is primarily a decision of the minister of baptism and not so much of the parish priest. In the U.S. at least, it would appear to be a pastoral decision for concrete circumstances rather than a question of policy.
As we saw above in No. 17 of the introduction to the Rite of Baptism, this prayer is "drawn up in the style of an exorcism, to introduce either the anointing with the oil of catechumens or the laying on of hands."
It is not, formally speaking, an exorcism as the child is not under the extraordinary influence of the devil. It is a prayer for freedom from the effects of original sin and for Christ to strengthen the child. This kind of prayer is sometimes called a minor exorcism.
It used to be more common and frequent in the rites of the Church, along with much stronger language. These exorcisms were also included as part of such rites as the blessing of holy water and blessed salt. Before the current text was introduced the Latin language text was the following:
"Go forth from him (her), unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
"I exorcise you, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father + and of the Son, + and of the Holy + Spirit, that you leave and depart from this servant of God, N. For He commands you, accursed one, Who walked upon the sea, and stretched out His right hand to Peter about to sink. Therefore, accursed devil, acknowledge your sentence, and give honor to the living and true God: give honor to Jesus Christ His Son, and to the Holy Spirit; and depart from this servant of God, N. because God and our Lord Jesus Christ hath vouchsafed to call him (her) to His holy grace and benediction and to the font of Baptism.
"And this sign of the holy Cross, which we make upon his (her) forehead, do you, accursed devil, never dare to violate. Through the same Christ our Lord.
"I exorcise you, every unclean spirit, in the name of God the Father + Almighty, in the name of Jesus + Christ, His Son, our Lord and Judge, and in the power of the Holy + Spirit, that you depart from this creature of God N, which our Lord hath deigned to call unto His holy temple, that it may be made the temple of the living God, and that the Holy Spirit may dwell therein. Through the same Christ our Lord, who shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire!"
The new text has modified and made much briefer this formula, taking into account the provisions of the Second Vatican Council and the fact that the new rite would be translated into the vernacular. Explaining the baptismal rite, the Catechism says:
"1237. Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil, one or more exorcisms are pronounced over the candidate. the celebrant then anoints him with the oil of catechumens, or lays his hands on him, and he explicitly renounces Satan. Thus prepared, he is able to confess the faith of the Church, to which he will be ‘entrusted’ by Baptism."
It later goes into more detail regarding the distinction between minor and major exorcisms.
"1673. When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called ‘a major exorcism,’ can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness."
Even though the rite has been modified and made simpler and contains a rich expression of Christ's triumphal victory over the Evil One, there may be some occasions when pastoral reasons would lead a priest to omit this part of the rite.
One example would be the difficulty of a family to understand the concept of exorcism as related to baptism, especially as some Catholics seem to get their ideas more from cinematic productions than from the sound doctrine of the Catechism.
Certainly, the priest has the opportunity to explain the real meaning of the texts in the pre-baptismal meetings with the parents and godparents, but it might still cause confusion to extended family members who may be present only for the baptism itself.
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