VATICAN CITY - Four hundred years after its last publication on the subject, the Vatican on Tuesday unveiled its latest manual for priests called on to practise exorcism.

For the first time, the manual warns that the victim could actually need a psychiatrist's chair more than a visit to the priest.

The 90-page manual warns that before attempting to chase out an evil spirit, the priest must decide whether the victim is really possessed or needs referring to a psychiatrist or psychoanalyst.

The work, in Latin, replaces the Catholic Church manual of 1614.

It warns Christians to remain vigilant "because their adversary, the devil, acts as a lion looking for prey".

Among the signs of possession, it says, are the use of unknown languages, discussion of the occult and unusual physical strength.

Pope John Paul II was once called on to exorcise a woman possessed, according to a book by Cardinal Jacques Martin.

In April 1982, the Pope was presented with a woman screaming and writhing.

He prayed, pronounced exorcisms and finally said he would say a mass for the victim, when suddenly she returned to normal.

Monsignor Corrado Balducci, the Vatican's chief exorcist, told the Times of London recently that of every 1,000 people who turned to an exorcist for help, only "five or six" were possessed by evil spirits.

Thirty cases qualified as "demonic obsession, infestation or disturbance". The rest were "in need of psychiatric help". - AFP

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This article was first published by The New Paper on Jan 29, 1999