Priest’s arrest for exorcism death sparks outrage
A monk and four nuns were arrested on Thursday and have been charged with murder in the case which has focused attention on the secretive convents and monasteries that dot Romania’s impoverished northeast.
Maricica Irina Cornici was said to be possessed by devils. She died last week in the Holy Trinity convent outside the remote village of Tanacu.
Daniel Petre Corogeanu, the red-bearded monk believed to have led the exorcism, has appeared unrepentant. He performed a funeral service for the dead nun on Sunday and said he was trying to take devils out of the woman.
When asked whether the nun was mentally ill and in need of medical help instead of exorcism, he responded: “You can’t take the devil out of people with pills. You cure the devils with fasting and prayer.”
He added that the nun had to be restrained because she was violent, but denied that she was starved.
Corogeanu and the nuns were indicted late Wednesday for aggravated murder after testifying for 11 hours to prosecutors.
They were later detained by police, according to prosecutor Ovidiu Berinde. A court in the northeast city of Vaslui ordered them to be kept under arrest for 29 days. Their lawyer immediately appealed the ruling.
There were angry scenes outside the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday in Vaslui, in one of Romania’s remotest and poorest regions near the border with Moldova.
Corogeanu was jostled by shrieking locals calling for justice, saying he had brought the Orthodox Church into disrepute. Others crammed against iron railings outside the prosecutor’s office, claiming that the monk and nuns were innocent.
