It is one of the least expected pairings on the site, but between 2005 and 2023, the number of Catholic exorcists trained in the United States rose and the NASA budget rose with them (r = 0.958), a line of data that suggests the Republic has been quietly investing in two very different approaches to the unknown. One group looks outward with telescopes; one group looks inward with rites. Both have recently had more funding than they had ten years before.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops quietly expanded its exorcist training programs from fewer than 20 formally designated exorcists in 2005 to over 125 by 2023, following Pope Benedict XVI's encouragement of diocesan appointments; NASA's budget grew from about $16 billion to over $25 billion in the same window, with Artemis, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Mars programs each demanding fresh appropriations. Both are the consequences of a century-old American tension finally being resolved by doing both: fund the space program, and also train the priests. The 2018 NYT feature on the rise of American exorcism noted that demand now outstripped supply, which, strangely, is also true of the astrophysics postdoc market.
A telescope points outward. A rite is recited in a converted office. Both institutions, expanded, believe they are needed.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Trained Catholic exorcists in the US” vs “NASA budget” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
