The Vatican on Friday denied plans to set up exorcist garrisons across the Catholic world.
''Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of ordering local bishops to bring in garrisons of exorcists to fight demonic possession,'' Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters.
On Thursday the Catholic website Petrus said the pope was drawing up plans to install a given number of exorcists in every diocese in the coming months so that 'possessed' people could get prompt treatment.
Benedict also meant to reintroduce at the end of Mass a prayer to St Mark the Archangel, believed to be the prime protector against evil, Petrus claimed.
The Vatican has responded to a rising demand for exorcists in recent years, setting up courses to fight the most extreme form of modern 'Godlessness'.
''Subcultures of Satanism and the occult have grown as people lose faith in progress,'' an exorcism expert said as he recently opened a course at a Vatican university.
''People suffer and think that turning to the Devil can help solve their problems,'' Father Paolo Scarafoni told students who signed up for instruction in the art of recognising and expelling Satan.
Father Scarafoni warned that very few - perhaps one in ten - of the people said to be possessed by Satan actually were.
But he said devil-worship groups and occult practices were now so common in society that the services of exorcists were being sought more and more frequently.
''Priests are being bombarded,'' he said.
Eager to spread awareness about the rising threat of Satanism, Rome's Regina Apostolorum university has even opened the course up to anyone with a proven interest in fighting devil worship.
Doctors, psychiatrists, lawyers and youth workers are among the students accepted for the course. They will never actually perform exorcisms but they will learn about the phenomenon of Satanism.
In Satanism, followers hold pagan and occult rites to worship the Devil. Exorcism frees an individual from the Devil's direct influence, believers think.
Apart from offering a 'doorway' to the Devil, Catholic authorities note that Satanism and related trends generally promote anti-social, if not criminal behaviour.
Italian newspapers have given ample coverage in recent years to cases such as the killing of a nun in 2000 by three girls involved in Satanic rites.
Another high-profile case involved a group of youths in a rock group called the Beasts of Satan who were convicted of a string of killings.
The Vatican is particularly concerned that young people are being exposed to the influence of Satanic sects through the media, rock music and the Internet.
The new course looks at Satanism from legal, psychological and sociological angles as well as the religious one.
''One of the objectives of the course was to stop such a delicate and difficult subject being viewed in a sensationalist way,'' commented Carlo Climati, who lectures on Satanism in youth culture.
But the studies also try to train course members to recognise the real presence of the Devil in individuals who are possessed.
Three signs that experts look out for are an ability to speak languages that the possessed person does not know, the presence of superhuman strength and an awareness of hidden or distant objects.
In theory, all priests can perform exorcisms but, in reality, only a select few are assigned the task.
The rite of exorcism involves a series of gestures and prayers to invoke the power of God and stop the 'demon' influencing its possessed victim.
