Van Slyke

One scholar of holy water, writing before Vatican
II, expressed quite a different view of the state of
creation in the following passage: “By the fall of our
first parents, the spirit of evil obtained influence not
only over man, but also over inanimate nature, whence
he is called in Scripture ‘the prince of this world’” (Jn
12:31, 14:30, 16:11). For this reason, when the Church
exorcizes some thing, “the curse put upon it is removed,
and Satan’s power over it either destroyed entirely, or
at least diminished.”

- Daniel G. Van Slyke, "The Order for Blessing Water: Past and Present," Antiphon 8, no.2 (2003), 18.