Pope Francis reportedly performs exorcism

Video footage during a Sunday Mass raises questions

 Video screenshot of what has been described as an exorcism. The Associated Press.

Pipe organs and gasping can be heard in the footage captured at the Vatican by Italian TV station TV2000; the video depicts Pope Francis laying his hands on the head of a young man in a wheelchair. 

The Italian media, and media corporations worldwide, have made it seem as if Pope Francis was performing an exorcism. Though it may look like one, according to the Vatican the Pope didn't perform any kind of exorcism.

The video begins with Pope Francis shaking hands with a young man in a wheelchair, with his other hand on the young man’s head. Five seconds later, Pope Francis places both hands on the young man’s head, and the young man's mouth gapes wide as he gasps, convulses, and finally droops in his chair.

"As he frequently does with the sick and the suffering who come his way, he intended simply to pray for a suffering person who had been brought before him," said Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, the Vatican spokesman, in a statement to Vatican Radio on May 21.