This Italian archbishop swears having physically seen the devil face-to-face.

Archbishop Erio Castellucci said the demon taunted him, predicted his death, "uttered unrepeatable insults and curses," and even clawed at him, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.

Speaking to the Italian daily Il Resto del Carlino, Castellucci said he confronted the demon when he witnessed his first exorcism back in 2015. He said what happened to him should convince anyone, even doubters, of the existence of the devil.

"All you have to do is witness an exorcism to understand that evil is a specific entity, as well as a reality," Castellucci said.

The archbishop said possessed people are no stranger to him, but it was only in July 2015 that he witnessed a live exorcism upon the invitation of two priest exorcists in his archdiocese.

Castellucci said they went to a parish church in the Italian town of Modena where the possessed middle-aged man was staying in a room.

Casellucci said they had barely entered the room when they were greeted by the demon-possessed man who shouted, "Get out, get out of here, you will have a bad death!"

Then he fell into a trance-like state.

But all of a sudden, he woke up and "in an instant drove his fingernails into the back of my hands," Castellucci said. "He had a diabolical look on his face and he uttered unrepeatable insults and curses."

The possessed man told the bishop that he would die in a traffic accident. "While saying it, he looked pleased," the archbishop said.

Castellucci said the curses thrown at him did not really bother him.

"My life is in the hands of the Lord Jesus and certainly not in that demon's. I wasn't worried at all. The word of God teaches that the curses are ineffective," he told reporters.