The Bishop of Waterford has agreed with Pope Francis that Satan is to blame for the abuse crisis in the church and says he is setting up a group to fight against evil spirits.

Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan says the group will be attending houses where people who may have been involved in any type of seance have opened up a door to Satan.

“Does Satan want to destroy the human person?,” the Bishop told Eamon Keane on ‘Deise Today’. “Of course he does. Not only the church but anywhere and everywhere he will get in, he has come to destroy.”

Bishop Cullinan claims that one Reiki Master was working on someone when they saw a vision of Satan.

“He was scared out of his wits, dropped the Reiki and went back to church.”

According to the Bishop, the ministry group will pray and recite – with the permission of the Bishop – the prayers of exorcism.

He said it was a tricky area; it must “never be done on one’s own” and there always has to be prayer behind it.

” I remember one particular priest who was involved in the case of a young girl who came with her mother. There were four men to hold her down in the chair and the priest had warned the four guys beforehand to just make sure they had gone to confession. One guy didn’t go to confession and the girl with the voice that was not hers, a male voice that was coming out of her actually called out the sins of the guy who had not been to confession, so that’s kind of scary stuff.”

The Bishop who has felt the presence of Satan himself, claims that one of the priests in his diocese will be sent for training which will take a while.

“I would hope that people will not get scared and I’m sorry if I am scaring anybody.”

He has appealed for trust in Jesus and has warned people about opening themselves up to challenging wrong spirits.