Exorcist Father Ripperger Agrees to One-Year ‘Fast’ From Public Speaking
Denver Archbishop James Golka asked Father Chad Ripperger to take a one-year break from public speaking and interviews, and Ripperger agreed. The Archdiocese of Denver said the pause will let Ripperger focus on his religious community, the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother, and the people it serves. The archdiocese and Ripperger will review the arrangement after a year; the statement did not say whether it affects his other priestly duties or is disciplinary. Ripperger has canceled several speaking engagements, including one scheduled for an event in April 2027.
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Father Chad Ripperger has agreed to Denver Archbishop James Golka’s request to refrain from public speaking and interviews for one year. The archdiocese said the pause is intended to let him focus on his religious community and the people it serves; the two plan to review the arrangement after a year. 2
Golka raised the request during a recent meeting with Ripperger to discuss his ministry and the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother, also known as the Doloran Fathers. The archdiocese expressed gratitude for Ripperger’s priestly service and exorcism ministry, and asked the faithful to pray for him and the Society. 2
The archdiocese did not say whether the request affects Ripperger’s other priestly duties or whether it is disciplinary. It separately confirmed to OSV News that he remains a priest in good standing within its territory. 2
Ripperger founded the semi-contemplative Society in 2012. Based in Keenesburg, Colorado, it describes its work as helping people in spiritual need; the archdiocese said the year away from media appearances would allow him to devote himself to the community and those it serves. 2
Ripperger has attracted a large audience through podcast appearances, including interviews with Tucker Carlson and Shawn Ryan. In an April interview with Carlson, he discussed exorcism in the Gospels, belief in the devil, psychology, demons, and supernatural and preternatural phenomena. 1
In a March interview with Ryan, Ripperger discussed UFOs and alien abductions, suggesting some reported abduction experiences were demonic. He also spoke about possible occult involvement on Jeffrey Epstein’s island, while acknowledging uncertainty about some of what he had read; in a later episode, Ryan gave him a rifle. 1
OSV News also reported that Ripperger spoke about invoking Jesus’ name against alien abductions in an Oct. 18 interview with the traditionalist Catholic website Sensus Fidelium. The archdiocese has not said whether any of his media comments prompted Golka’s request. 2
The request comes amid discussion about exorcists’ public appearances. A July National Catholic Register feature described differing views: some priests and experts said media appearances can help people understand the Church’s ministry, while others warned that sensational discussion of demons can frighten people and draw attention away from Christ. 1
In June, Cardinal Robert McElroy removed Msgr. Stephen Rossetti from his role as an exorcist in the Archdiocese of Washington after concerns over social-media comments linking UFOs with demonic presence. OSV reported that McElroy later said his objection was to high-profile exorcists, whose ministry he described as traditionally private and sacred, rather than to the question of UFOs itself. 2*
Catholic ecclesiology governs episcopal oversight of clerical public speech
Catholic ecclesiology supports episcopal oversight of clerics’ public speech, but that oversight is pastoral and ordered to the Church’s communion and the protection of faith and morals—not simply a claim that every cleric’s public opinion is an official statement of the Church.
A bishop is responsible for teaching and safeguarding the faith among those entrusted to his care. Accordingly, canon 823 gives pastors the duty and right to watch over writings and media communications that may harm faith or morals, to require certain writings on those subjects to be submitted for judgment, and to condemn writings that harm sound faith or morals. The canon assigns this responsibility to each bishop for the faithful entrusted to him, while reserving universal responsibility to the Church’s supreme authority.
That oversight includes correcting public confusion. John Paul II taught that bishops should make clear that not every Catholic speaking in the media speaks for the Church, and that refuting error can be an act of pastoral charity. The International Theological Commission likewise affirms bishops’ right and duty to intervene, and when necessary censure theological work they judge erroneous or harmful.
This does not mean that all clerical speech is automatically subject to blanket prior approval. Pius X’s 1906 instruction imposed broad prior-consent requirements for clerical writing and lectures, but the current canonical rule supplied here is canon 823: it authorizes bishops to require submission of writings touching faith or morals; it does not state a universal prior-permission requirement for every public appearance or interview.
So, when a bishop asks a priest to pause public speaking, Catholic ecclesiology can understand the request as an exercise of pastoral governance aimed at protecting the faithful and ecclesial communion. But whether a particular request is proportionate, what authority it rests on, and whether it is a formal canonical restriction cannot be determined from the general principles alone. The supplied sources do not establish the specific circumstances or canonical status of any reported request.