(LifeSiteNews) — Exorcist and theologian Father Chad Ripperger warned that YouTube channels are fabricating sensational stories about him and fraudulently claiming to have “official” information from him.
Ripperger issued a statement to Spirit Daily, published Tuesday, explaining that the YouTube channel Most Holy Trinity and its affiliate channel Spiritual Messengers have been posting videos with his name and photos, using AI-generated voices and making up stories involving false claims that he is “having visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Michael.”
“The channel also claims to have official information from me, but this is a complete falsehood,” Ripperger told Spirit Daily. He shared that his media lawyer has been working with YouTube for more than three months to have these fraudulent videos removed. However, while YouTube “has admitted that it is impersonation and illegal,” and the video platform has been notified that the channels are using copyright-protected images, it “refuses to take the videos down,” according to the exorcist priest.
“Even when my media lawyer contacted the author of the channel, she essentially ‘gave him the finger’ and attacked him verbally,” Ripperger recounted. He said more than 40 requests have been submitted to YouTube to take down these videos, which do not accurately convey his “theological thought,” let alone his personal experience.
“As time goes on, the claims of these two channels gets stranger and stranger,” he noted. One such recent video made the bizarre claim that Ripperger saw souls in hell “married” to demons. The exorcist noted in a video posted to his YouTube channel Sensus Traditionis that the channels “tend to sensationalize Catholic teaching, which does a disservice to people who are seeking the truth.”
The woman behind the fraudulent videos continues to “hid(e) behind anonymity,” and has “a problem of deleting comments that accuse” her of “misrepresenting” her relationship with Ripperger, he further shared. He directed people who are interested in knowing his true thoughts to the YouTube channels Sensus Fidelium, which shares the majority of his online content, as well as his own channel Sensus Traditionis, and Catholic channels that carry interviews of his, such as GabiAfterHours, U.S. Grace Force, Chris Stefanick, Dr. Taylor Marshall, and others.
Ripperger, a psychologist and Thomistic philosopher as well as a theologian, is known for his defense of Catholic tradition and excellent sermons, and has authored about a dozen traditional Catholic books, including an Introduction to the Science of Mental Health.