Matt Myers

The phrase "celebrity priest" is a pejorative meant to discredit a priest's successful public ministry, which, in the case of Fr. Carlos Martins, he exercises with the permission of his superior. Some exorcists are called to remain private, but others have been granted permission - in some cases, encouragement - by their bishop/superior to carry on a public ministry in order to answer questions about their work and to evangelize in the public square. Everything Fr. Martins does, he does with the permission of his superior and/or the Holy See (e.g., his tour of the St. Jude relic). This largely began with the late Fr. Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of Rome, whose books went far in dispelling inaccuracies about a ministry that formerly had been shrouded in secrecy and misunderstanding. Father Martins happens to have had great success with Exorcist Files, reaching a broad audience and exposing millions to the Catholic faith and catechesis who normally would have no interest at all. Because of the tremendous success of his public ministry, people have resorted to calling him a "celebrity priest." I am sure that pejorative was used against Ven. Abp. Fulton Sheen in his day for using the medium of television to evangelize - which he did very successfully.