After the scandal broke surface, the Archbishop of Burgos recognized that the adolescent girl had undergone “several” exorcisms after she had attempted suicide.

The scandal erupted the day before when the regional newspaper, Diario de Burgos, ran a story on how a teenage girl had attempted to end her life after her parents forced her to undergo no fewer than thirteen exorcisms. A local judge is investigating the matter.

The parents, on the other hand, claim that the girl had attempted to take her own life quite a while before the 13 sessions, which only ceased after the parents became convinced that the demon had been expelled.

The Archbishop, whilst denying that the Church had recommended the ‘treatment,’ stated that exorcism is a religious practice which is the right of all the faithful.

According to Diario de Burgos, in May 2012 the girl, who is now 18, was suffering from anorexia and nervous stress, which resulted in her not eating. It also resulted in her cutting her wrists. The girl said that the parents interpreted all this as her being possessed by demons.

Editorial comment: Why didn’t they just throw her into volcano as a human sacrifice? I mean, it makes about as much sense, after all.

(News: Burgos, Castilla-Leon, Spain)