"The woman from Valladolid who claims to be a priest and exorcist: dedicated to others, challenging conventions
She claims to be the second woman in Spain to be ordained a priest despite not being recognized by the Catholic Church and the first to perform exorcisms"
"Is faith sincere when it does not act?" asked the French poet Jean-Baptiste Racine in the 17th century. Belén Repiso (Valladolid, 1958) was called by her faith and her calling led her to act. Belén claims to be the second woman to be ordained a priest in Spain and the only one in the world who also works as an exorcist . Her life has been a path of service to others, guided by a deep religious vocation and an unwavering desire to help those most in need.
From a very young age, Repiso felt the call of faith : "The first thing that came into my life, obviously, was the vocation," she confesses. At 14, educated by two "very famous, very revolutionary" priests in Valladolid, she longed to follow their example and bring Christ to all people. She actively participated in the Church as a catechist, but the idea of the priesthood seemed impossible to her within the Catholic Church, so she repressed her vocation : "It was an inner call that you have, but you appease it because you see that it is not possible ," she remembers. "Rather than appease it, you repress it and it is not good to repress anything in this life ."
However, her life was always marked by helping others . Repiso, divorced and with two children, founded the first help centre for drug addicts in Valladolid, the first association for single mothers and later for separated mothers. For 35 years she gave self-esteem courses to women and ran three shelters for victims of abuse. She always asked herself: "Who are the poorest?" and directed her efforts to helping them.
Her interest in the world of exorcisms was sparked at the age of 13 when she saw the film 'The Exorcist': "It had a huge impact on me ," she admits. The film had a profound effect on her, awakening in her a mixture of fascination and terror. Years later, with the shop she runs just opened, she decided to face her fears. She spent a year and a half researching the subject: "I bit my nails from the fear I had, but I said: 'I have to get over this, it can't be'" . She even contacted a renowned Spanish exorcist, author of numerous books on the subject, and he recommended that she not enter that world.
The hard experiences as an exorcist
Despite the advice, life brought her face to face with the devil . Two months later, a young woman came into her shop seeking help. During the conversation, the young woman confessed that "strange things" were happening to her . The girl was really physically consumed and Repiso asked her to come back to her shop another day. During the conversation, the now nun from Valladolid began to suspect a possible possession, so she offered her a cross of Saint Benedict, at which point she witnessed how the young woman suddenly changed "with her eyes rolled back and a voice from beyond the grave, it cannot be defined" and said "you leave this one, it's mine, eh?"
Belén asked the voice , "Who are you?" but it refused to answer. Repiso continued to question the entity, warning it: "Do you know that you don't have to be there?" To which the voice responded threateningly: "If you don't leave it, I'll kill you ." Belén Repiso calmly replied firmly: "You can't do anything to me because God is with me ." It was at that moment that the girl came to.
This experience marked a turning point in Repiso's life . After consulting the famous exorcist again, she began a long journey to try to help this young woman. Repiso describes this first encounter with a possession as a shocking experience: "At that moment, I felt a peace and tranquility: this is what I have come to do in this world."
In her search for help for the young girl, Belén was met with a refusal from the Catholic Church . No priest in Valladolid agreed to perform an exorcism. "Some denied the existence of the devil, others had no time, others were afraid, others did not even want to talk about it. I did not find a single priest ." Disillusioned, she considered joining the Anglican Church in order to help the young woman and other people suffering from possessions: "I said: 'OK, then I'll go with the Anglicans.' In fact, I was talking to the bishop of Madrid. I said: 'I'll go with the Anglicans, I'll become a priest and an exorcist to help this girl, because it's not just this girl, all the people who have these problems, who helps them ?'"
With this young woman, she managed to get the important Spanish exorcist she had contact with to come and try to help her. A long path of exorcisms began , which only involve specific prayers, in which it was determined that she was possessed by five demons . Four of them were expelled, she says.
It was at this moment that Repiso had a profound reflection . She realized that people suffering from demonic possessions were the "new poor" , abandoned by society and the Church, and she decided to dedicate her life to helping them. Remembering her vocation to help those most in need, from gypsies in slums to single mothers and victims of abuse, she realized that these people were now the most in need: "Now the poor, the poorest, who are they? And I realized that they are these people, because these people do not know where to go."
Repiso describes some of the exorcisms in which she has participated , recounting shocking phenomena such as witnessing the appearance of letters on the skin, the superhuman strength of the possessed and the ability of demons to know the interior of people: "I have seen, for example, letters appear before my eyes on the chest that Beelzebub put on the skin. I have seen a person who weighs 40 kg throw six people." In one of the most shocking exorcisms, the demons revealed to her that they had been the ones who "pushed the train" that caused the death of his partner years before: "A demon that we were trying to exorcise told me: 'It was us who pushed the train. ' And that exorcism is the one that has taught me the most, because I learned to what extent they know us and control us and know our weak points [...] to what extent they know the spring they have to give so that you lose control . "
The path to the priesthood
Repiso's experience as an exorcist led her to question the structures of the Catholic Church . She was confronted by the Church's refusal to allow lay people to speak during exorcisms, although in her case they were allowed to do so because of their ability to control them: "Lay people are not allowed to speak to demons, but they did allow me because they obeyed me ." Repiso recounts how she has been expelled from churches for speaking "the truth of the gospel" and how she has defied established norms to help those in need: "I have been thrown out of churches day in and day out. They would grab me by the ears and drag me out."
The desire to serve God through the sacraments led her to return to her former priestly vocation : "Because I want to celebrate the Eucharist ," she replied to Cristina Moreira when she asked her why she wanted to be a priest. Through a friend, she contacted Cristina, the first woman to claim to have been ordained a priest in Spain , who belongs to the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests . This association, founded in 2002 by seven women, seeks the ordination of women within the Catholic Church and has the support of some progressive bishops and theologians, especially German ones.
Repiso began the training process by submitting an application, providing endorsements and undergoing a psychological evaluation: "I had to present a lot of documentation, a psychological report to prove that I was mentally well ." After a period of theological study, she says she was ordained a deacon and three days later a priest in Rome, on a ship, just like the founders of the association. Currently, canon law does not recognize female priests.
Repiso's ordination, although valid by apostolic succession, is not recognised by the Catholic Church . She is aware of this ambiguity: "In the eyes of the official Catholic Church, is my ordination valid? No. In the eyes of Christ, my ordination is valid. Yes ." She claims that her obedience is to Christ and not to the norms of the Church when these deviate from the Gospel: "Who do I have to obey? I have to obey Christ always . " She believes that Pope Francis agrees with the ordination of women, but cannot express it openly due to pressure from the conservative sector: "The Pope is in two places, two chairs and he is sitting badly. We have the most progressive theological line and we have the other ultra-conservative one. So, the Pope himself is in one telling us: 'Keep making noise'; and on the other hand calming the others so that there is no schism in the church."
Despite the criticism and opposition, Repiso continues with her pastoral work : "I have already celebrated the Eucharist, I have celebrated confessions, I have some boys who want to marry me, I have a child who is waiting for me to baptize him. The day before yesterday I went to give extreme unction to a man in the hospital ." Her objective is "to lead people to God ," delving into the essence of faith and challenging the rigid structures that, in her opinion, move away from the true message of the gospel: "There are those who have asked me to baptize them again, because when they were baptized, they didn't understand anything and had no idea what a sacrament was. And that is my idea, to lead people to God."
Belén Repiso's life is a testimony of courage, compassion and commitment to faith . Faith that leads to action and to being with those in need. Her fight for the recognition of women in the Church and her work as an exorcist make her an inspiring figure who challenges established norms and opens a path for inclusion and justice within the Church.
