A new movie starring Al Pacino and Patricia Heaton is beginning to make waves on the internet. The Ritual is currently in production, and it follows two priests, “one questioning his faith and one reckoning with a troubled past” and how they conduct a series of exorcisms on a young woman under possession, despite their many differences. Heaton will play the mother superior in the upcoming film.

During an interview with MovieWeb.com on a new movie opening this Friday, also starring Heaton and telling the story of a young boy growing up with a very rare disorder, the Catholic actress spoke about her faith, saying, “Just as God is a reality, evil is a reality too.”

Heaton made the comments while discussing exorcisms. 

“When I heard that Al Pacino was going to be doing this movie, I didn’t even ask what the script was. I just said, ‘Yes I will do it.’ … [It is] right up my alley as a Catholic, it’s about an exorcism, and it’s also a true story,” Heaton explained, adding that the harrowing event occurred in 1928. She also mentions the exorcist’s name was Father Theophilus and that he wrote about the entire experience. 

The actress of Everybody Loves Raymond fame also muses that exorcism is very unique to the Catholic faith. 

“As a Catholic, these are like the bells and whistles we get to have that Protestants don’t seem interested in,” she said, before adding, “They don’t know what they’re missing!” 

“Listen, just as God is a reality, evil is a reality too.”

Of course, as Catholics, we do indeed know that evil is real, and this is evident especially on this somber day, as the bodies of Israeli hostages, including the youngest and one of the oldest, were paraded around by Hamas. The coffins were said to have carried a mother, Shiri Bibas, and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, only 9 months old and 4 years old — all victims of the ghastly attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The Bibas family was abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz. The body of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he and wife Yocheved were taken from Nir Oz, was also part of the horrific spectacle. (Yocheved was released by Hamas in October 2023.) Adding to the heartbreak, the body of the Bibas mother was not among those released, according to an overnight announcement from Israel.

The macabre parading of the coffins was condemned by the United Nations and Heaton, who, having been inspired by her own trip to the Holy Land, has planned a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in May. Heaton has been posting about the horrific attack and its victims since that horrible day.

Reflecting on this day, which saw two darling children returned, murdered, back to their grieving family, Heaton wrote on social media: “All righteous hearts are broken today.”

Thanks to Patricia Heaton for being so outspoken about her Catholic faith and human solidarity, especially in Hollywood and beyond — and may we remember that evil is indeed real and cling to Christ for guidance, grace and wisdom for protection. 

And may we all say a prayer for Israel and heartbroken hearts — and eternal rest for innocent souls. 

Amen.

This post was updated after 10 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 20, 2025, to include the latest information about the Bibas family. Further update: The body of Shiri Bibas was returned to Israel the day after the bodies of her sons were returned to their grieving family. Other updates were also made.