A DEACONS ORDER OF BLESSINGS

QUESTION? / COMMENT!

Do deacons have the authority to impose hands and impart blessings outside the bounds of the liturgy?

ANSWER! / COMMENT!

There has been some debate as to who can pray simple exorcism prayers (commonly known as ‘Chapter III' of the Rite of Exorcism, a.k.a. the Leonine Prayer Against Fallen Angels), so a dubia was sent to the Holy See a few years ago. I know at one time the Pope Leo Institute reserved judgement to the local level on the use of Chapter III by deacons, but it appears to have been answered in the negative by the CDF (as well as affirming the need for expressed, episcopal approval for public use even for priests). I have attached a link below discussing it, the canons it refers to, as well as the response to the dubia. My recommendation would be to have Mass said in the facility where the activity is the greatest, as well as confessions, and then do a blessing of place, as per the Book of Blessings, and watch the effect for a few weeks. If preternatural signs persist, then it would be prudent to have a priest with express permission from the bishop (as per Can. 1172 §1 and §2) to pray simple exorcism from the Rituale Romanum, to which a deacon would assist with holy water and incense, if permitted by the facility. https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2018/01/dubia-answered-warning-for-pri...

Here is the ‘Book of Blessings’. Type in ‘Deacon’ and it will tell you where a Deacon can bless - https://archive.org/details/bookofblessingsg0000cath/page/28/mode/2up?q=deacon

The simple answer is that NO, deacons cannot bless outside a few specific narrow confines within the liturgy. Most Deacons think otherwise because they have not read the 'Book of Blessings.'