The following comes from a December 28 Catholic News Agency article:

It has been nine years since the Dominican priest, Father Juan José Gallego, was appointed as exorcist. In an August interview conducted by the Spanish daily El Mundo, the priest said that in his experience, pride is the sin the devil likes the most.

“In the beginning I had a lot of fear,” Father Gallego replied. “All I had to do was look over my shoulder and I saw demons… the other day I was doing an exorcism, ‘I command you! I order you!’…and the Evil One, with a loud voice fires back at me: ‘Galleeeego, you’re over-doooing it.’ That shook me.”

Nevertheless, he knows that the devil is not more powerful than God. The exorcist recalled that “when they appointed me, a relative told me, ‘Whoa, Juan José, I’m really afraid, because in the movie ‘The Exorcist,’ one person died and the other threw himself through a window. I said to her ‘Don’t forget that the devil is (just a) creature of God.’”

Father Gallego warned that “New Age” practices like reiki and some yoga can be points of entry for the demons. He also said that addictions are “a type of possession.”

“When people are going through a crisis they suffer more. They can feel hopeless, People feel like they’ve got the devil inside,” he said.