ABC’s ‘The Rookie’ Mocks Catholicism, Depicts Priest as Deranged Murderer

Dawn Slusher
April 21st, 2026 9:51 AM

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It’s no secret Hollywood has long held a strong dislike for the Catholic Church, but it was still shocking to see ABC’s procedural drama The Rookie degrade it in such an over-the-top manner in a recent episode. 

The Rookie is well known for its outlandish storylines, but episode 15 of this season, “Survive the Streets,” was so horrible Collider called it “a mess from start to finish.”

The show not only depicted a horror scene with what appears to be a pope strangling a nun while blood pours from the mouths of other nuns nearby with sinister smiles, but it also featured a murderous priest who stabbed a young girl in the chest during an exorcism in an attempt to kill a demon.

Shot in true crime documentary fashion, the main characters describe investigating a series of murders that appear to be committed by an extremist cult that believes a demon named Malphus is possessing people and can only be stopped by murdering the human host.

After some investigation, they track down the source of the cult’s outlandish beliefs to a 1990s horror film titled 300 Days in Hell. They show a scene from the movie that was extremely gory and completely disrespectful towards the Catholic faith. (Warning: Extremely graphic)

Nun: Are we safe, brother? Is Malaphus banished?

Monk: His sigil is drawn. The rite is spoken. We have sealed his last human vessel with copper.

Nun: Heaven forgive us.

Monk: Indeed. For hell will not.

Nun: Midnight, the 300th day. Our task was done none too soon.

Sigh. After an interview with the real-life stars of the long-running CW show Supernatural (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles), which featured demon hunting and a demonic entity named Malphus, we learn about a priest who had been on the 300 Days in Hell movie set to bless it and ended up believing all the unconventional ways to stop the demon were real. Because of course.

He was later called to perform an exorcism on a young teen girl and ended up stabbing her in the chest in an attempt to stop the demon.

Interviewer: Can you tell us about your encounter with Rich Rowley?

Jared: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rich Rowley. He came to a fan event we did last year at MonsterCon.

Jensen: Yeah, you know, most people show up, and they just want an autograph or a photo. But Rich was a bit of a different beast altogether.

Jared: Yeah, yeah, he was. He was super fixated on this one particular episode where we fought a demon.

Interviewer: Malaphus.

Jared: Yeah, uh, that one. Anyway, he seemed to think we, like, knew more about it than we were saying.

Abigail: More about what?

Jared: Demon hunting. He kept, like, asking these super pointed questions, like he was, I don't know, testing us or something.

Interviewer: Did you have an answer?

Jensen: No. No, I mean, we didn't come up with these stories. You know, we just did what the writers wrote. It's called acting. There's no actual demon hunters in real life.

Jared: Exactly.

Juarez: Uh, that's not exactly true. There is at least one. And it actually connected to the movie.

Abigail: We heard the director brought a priest named Father Simon McCabe to bless the set every day before filming.

Dr. Barrett: Well, it was either that or the whole crew was going to walk.

Interviewer: Does that name mean anything to you?

Bradford: About 15 years ago. Lopez and I had just finished our rookie years. We responded to a call at a house. Priest doing an exorcism with a 16-year-old girl. Had been going on for three days.

Mother: Father, no.

Lopez: Police!

Mother: Help her! Please!

Lopez: Get away from her!

Father Simon: Father, forgive me.

Turns out, it was a brain tumor, not a demon, that had caused the girl’s symptoms. The priest was convicted of murder and sent to prison where the team later interviews him and learns a group called the Knights of Avila took over the demon-hunting cause after his imprisonment. This could be an apparent stab at the Knights of Columbus, a well-known Catholic fraternal order:

Abigail: Did you feel like you'd seen the devil?

Bradford: The only thing in that room that belonged in hell was Father Simon.

Lopez: He kept saying he had to. The whole way to the station, "I'm sorry, I had to. I'm sorry, I had to."

Interviewer: Because he believed she was possessed?

Lopez: She had a brain tumor. That's what they found after the autopsy. She needed a doctor, not an exorcism. And he wasn't a man of God. He was a killer.

Harper: The courts agreed. So. Father Simon was convicted of first-degree murder.

Lopez: When we processed him, we found a penny in his pocket. Nothing else, just a penny. It didn't mean anything at the time, but after Rich connected those seven murders, it seemed likely he was involved.

Abigail: Involved like, he killed them?

Harper: No, Simon was already in prison when five of the murders took place, and his DNA didn't match any that was found on the corpses. But he could have been part of whatever group Rich was so afraid of.

Lopez: Which means he knew more than he had told us. So, we had to go back.

Father Simon: Officers, I remember you. You were the ones who tried to stop the ritual.

Bradford: Just wish we would have gotten here sooner. Becca Scott might still be alive.

Father Simon: Oh, she was long gone before you arrived. The demon saw to that.

Lopez: Malaphus?

Father Simon: Shh. Do not say its name in my presence.

Bradford: What, are you afraid we might accidentally summon it?

Father Simon: You may scorn me and my beliefs, but I have fought this evil. I know enough to fear its power.

Lopez: What's more evil than murdering a child?

Father Simon: I took no pleasure in the act. I'm grateful I had the courage to do what was necessary.

Bradford: Courage?

Lopez: Tell us about the penny that was in your pocket. In the movie 300 Days of Hell, Malaphus is sealed inside his host with copper before he can be killed.

Father Simon: Uh, banished, not killed.

Bradford: What's the difference?

Father Simon: The demon is a parasite. It needs a host. Once you kill the body that inhabits it, it'll find a new one. Becca Scott was just a single battle in a larger war.

Lopez: If you're in here, who's doing the fighting now?

Father Simon: The Knights of Avila.

Evers: Los Angeles has a long history of spiritualism, esoteric religions that go back over 100 years. So, think Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons, L. Ron Hubbard.

Juarez: He freaking loves this stuff.

Evers: I do. Anyway, a lot of these groups started out as fraternal orders, similar to the Freemasons, where people would gather and share…

Juarez: Men…

Evers: Well, yeah. Yes, and some women. And they would share new ideas, explore philosophies.

Juarez: They also liked partying, doing drugs, and performing weird sex rituals.

Projection much? It’s Hollywood elites, not Catholics, who are busy snorting lines off their Academy Awards and holding “freak off” sex parties. The Knights have spent over a century quietly feeding the hungry, supporting families, and defending the unborn.

As far as exorcisms go, priests have been safely performing them for centuries with strict protocols in place.

And whatever happened to the left hating “cultural appropriation”? Apparently, everyone gets a pass if it’s Catholic culture and its sacraments, traditions and rituals being appropriated for entertainment purposes. Something tells us they’d never portray Muslims or Islam in such a horrific way. ABC wouldn't try a "deranged imam" plot.

PS: This isn't the first time the writers at The Rookie have used the trope of crazy exorcists as villains. A Google search finds this from 2019:

Paula disapproved of Mario's relationship with Genie, mainly due to Genie being Muslim. The deranged Paula locked Mario in his room, tied him to his bed, and began performing an exorcism, doing so under the belief that he was possessed by evil. Her actions led to Genie calling the police, and it was after Bishop and Chen entered that they witnessed the maniacal villainess holding a crucifix and chanting.

This isn’t edgy storytelling. It’s the same old, tired anti-Catholic bigotry and propaganda from producers who lack the talent to come up with something new and creative that doesn’t insult the more than 1 billion Catholics that are in the world. Looks like this show could use a blessing on their set by a real priest. Someone pass them some holy water, please.

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