Rome , Italy ( CNN ) -- `` The devil tempts everyone -- people in politics , in economics , in sport . And naturally , he tempts , above all , the religious leaders , so you should n't be surprised if the devil tempts those in the Vatican . That 's his job . '' Father Gabriele Amorth is n't speaking metaphorically when he says that . The 85-year-old priest means people can be tempted and literally possessed by Satan . `` It 's not my opinion : I 'm saying that if you believe in the Gospels , you believe in the existence of the devil , in the devil 's power to possess people , '' he said in an interview with CNN . The faithful believe `` that there are people possessed by the devil , and ... in the power of exorcism to liberate from the devil , '' he said . And as the chief exorcist of the Roman Catholic Church , it 's his job to expel the devil when someone is possessed . Amorth , the founder of the International Association of Exorcists , has performed more than 70,000 exorcisms in his career , he estimates . But there is a difference between possession -- where the devil takes hold of someone 's body and actions -- and temptation , where Satan lures a person into doing evil , he said . As a child abuse scandal sweeps across Europe , with accusations being made against priests in Ireland , Germany , Austria and the Netherlands , Amorth said the pedophiles are tempted , not possessed . He has never done an exorcism on a child molester , he said . `` I have carried out exorcisms on some priests who had been molested by the devil , '' he said , without going into details . `` But cases of pedophilia exorcised , no . ... Pedophiles are not possessed by the devil , they are tempted by the devil , '' he said . `` They do n't need exorcism , they need to be converted , to be converted to God , that 's what they need . They need to confess , they need true penitence , true repentance , that 's what they need . They 're not possessed . '' But no one is too strong a believer to be possessed , said Amorth , who is employed by the Roman diocese . `` Nothing occurs without the permission of God , and he allows even holy people , even saints , to be possessed by the devil , '' he said . But , he added , he sees no evil in the Vatican today : `` I just see good people in the Vatican . People of prayer , holy people , I do n't see any evil . ''
Father Gabriele Amorth is chief exorcist at Vatican ; he claims over 200 exorcisms . He says the faithful believe ` ` in the power of exorcism to liberate from the devil '' ' : ` ` people are not possessed by the devil , they are possessed by the devil '' Priests from Ireland to Austria have been accused in growing child abuse cases .