I am Protestant, baptized and raised, but I do not ever hear about Protestant pastors driving out demons in exorcisms. We know the spiritual world is real, so exorcisms have to be real by default. Demons can call out our sins to accuse us and drag us down with them, so that is also universal between Catholics and Protestants.
So what is the defining difference that gives Catholics the power to do the exorcisms and not Protestants?
Do they teach in a way that gives more divine authority? Are we doing something wrong? Or is it withholding information within the Catholic church?
On crimes against children, to be fair to all:
Direct comparison studies indicate that abuse rates among Catholic priests and Protestant ministers are comparable, falling within a similar 2–5% range, though data collection methods differ significantly between the two groups. The John Jay College of Criminal Justice report found that approximately 4% of Catholic priests were credibly accused of abuse between 1950 and 2002, while data from Christian Ministry Resources and insurance claims suggests Protestant clergy abuse rates are similarly 2–3% or roughly 260 claims per year across 165,500 churches.
Key findings from available research include:
Data Disparity: The Catholic Church has a centralized hierarchy that maintains meticulous records, leading to higher visibility and publicity of cases, whereas the decentralized nature of most Protestant denominations makes comprehensive data collection difficult and often results in underreporting.
Offender Demographics: Studies show that the majority of offenders in both Catholic and Protestant settings are male, typically middle-aged (around 40–60 years old), and often serve in mid-level positions like associate pastors or youth ministers.
Contextual Factors: While the absolute number of Catholic cases is high due to the Church's size, experts note that abuse is not unique to Catholic clergy; rates in Protestant churches are often driven by volunteers rather than ordained ministers, and some studies suggest Protestant congregations may have higher total allegations due to a larger number of volunteer youth leaders.
Group Estimated Offender Rate Data Source/Context Catholic Priests ~4.0% John Jay College Report (1950–2002) Protestant Clergy 2–3% Christian Ministry Resources / Insurance Claims K-12 Educators 5–7% Comparative institutional data General Male Pop. ~5% Comparative baseline
Experts emphasize that no formal comparative study has ever definitively proven that one denomination has a significantly higher incidence of abuse than the other, with the perception of a Catholic problem largely attributed to the Church's centralized record-keeping and the sheer scale of its global membership.