[TT] WHETHER it is lawful to remove acts of sorcery through other acts of sorcery or through other unlawful means.

[AG 1] It is argued that it is not because | it is not 152B lawful to make use of the help of demons, as was explained above and is determined by the Doctors in common in the Commentary on Pronouncements, Bk. 2, Dist. 7, on the grounds that this is apostasy from the Faith. Indeed, that an act of sorcery cannot be broken without the help of demons is proven on the grounds that it is broken either by the contrivance of the artifice of man or the Devil or by the power of God. The first is not the case because a lower power cannot infringe upon a higher one, since it can do nothing surpassing its own virtue. It is also not divine power, because this would be a miraculous work and God works miracles atHis own discretion and not at the insistence of humans. For instance, when His mother asked Christ to provide wine miraculously, this needed the miracle of transformation, as the Doctors propound, and this is why He replied, “What is it to you and me, woman?” [John 2:4], that is, “What do we have in common in the miraculous work.”

[AG 2] It is also evident that the possessed are very seldom freed, however much they beg for the help of God and the assistance of the Saints. Therefore, they can be freed only with the help of devils, though it is not lawful to seek this.

[AG 3] Also, what is commonly tolerated becomes general practice, even if it is unlawful, and it is common practice for those affected by sorcery to rush to superstitious womenfolk, | by whom they are very often freed and not by priests or exorcists. Therefore, practice shows that acts of sorcery are broken with the help of demons. Since it is unlawful to seek a demon's help, however, what is lawful is not to break acts of sorcery but to endure them with patience.