Pope faces Mexicans worshipping skeletal 'Death Saint'

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ComplineSanFran said:
Why do you think so many people pray to her? Are completed devoted to her?

Perhaps it falls into the category of superstition, but so do many other practices, especially in ethnic communities. Why do you think she is different?
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I also find it fascinating. It presents many interesting questions. What do people get from this devotion that they do not find within the formal boundaries of the Church? It is like other superstitions - or is there a deeper need/issue being addressed? Will the Church find some way to inculturate some aspects of this devotion?
 
A lot of the time it comes from desperation… as you can see by the strong links to the drug cartel.
It’s witchcrafty stuff that can be found in all cultures.

Most Mexicans, I suspect, associate it with evil, or at least acknowledge that it is outside of the church.

My grandma, a devout Catholic, would tell us not go near the statues being sold at the market because they were bad.
 
sancte_joseph said:
A lot of the time it comes from desperation… as you can see by the strong links to the drug cartel.
It’s witchcrafty stuff that can be found in all cultures.

Most Mexicans, I suspect, associate it with evil, or at least acknowledge that it is outside of the church.

My grandma, a devout Catholic, would tell us not go near the statues being sold at the market because they were bad.
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👍
 
ComplineSanFran said:
If you take out the drug cartel element, you still have an increasing population of regular people in the pew, as it were, devoted to her. And now the cult is growing to non-latins. For outsiders, it IS Catholic. The hierarchy may not like it, but again, to the outsider it is seen as a totally grassroots movement.
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Again, misguided. No different from people who put Voodoo on equal footing with Catholicism due to some overlap with the Catholic faith, and no different to organized crime families who also infuse some Catholic practices within their initiations.

What an outsider deems to be Catholic is irrelevant.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
If you take out the drug cartel element, you still have an increasing population of regular people in the pew, as it were, devoted to her. And now the cult is growing to non-latins. For outsiders, it IS Catholic. The hierarchy may not like it, but again, to the outsider it is seen as a totally grassroots movement.
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Attendance is worthless if they are there for the wrong reasons. 😦

It’s not Catholic. May appear that way to outsiders who don’t know much about Catholicism, and if you come across one, I hope you will be able to let them know it’s not Catholic and that the Church warns the faithful of this.

I hope this has helped

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
HollyDolly said:
They call her that but she’s not. It might be another form of worship of one of the old aztec goddesses.I forgot her name,but she’s depicted with a necklace of hands around her neck
etc. You also see Our Lady of Guadalupe all over the place in Mexico and the Us in areas heavily hispanic. Why when they seem to have such a devotion to Mary they would also choose Santa Muerta i don’t know. I’m hungarian-german. Don’t know what my mother’s ancestors worshiped before St.Stephen converted to Catholicism,but they don’t follow the old religion of the Magyars. Daddy’s side in Germany are Bavarian and as catholic as they come.Both sides have priests and nuns in the family.They too don’t worship the ancient german gods either. If the church in Mexico had really worked hard with the people in truly converting them,then maybe you wouldn’t have this happening.
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On the basis of some Mexicans having this “devotion,” you conclude that Mexico has never been truly converted? Or am I misreading you?

Mexico has had a rough road since early in the 20th century. There was a communist takeover, even a banning of religion. Given that history there is little surprise that things have slipped since the high water mark of Catholic faith, but Mexico does have a history of deep faith, and many Mexican Catholics defied the state during the state’s oppression of Catholicism.

I have lived among Mexican people my whole life. Their depth of faith is often impressive.
 
zerocrossing said:
On the basis of some Mexicans having this “devotion,” you conclude that Mexico has never been truly converted? Or am I misreading you?

Mexico has had a rough road since early in the 20th century. There was a communist takeover, even a banning of religion. Given that history there is little surprise that things have slipped since the high water mark of Catholic faith, but Mexico does have a history of deep faith, and many Mexican Catholics defied the state during the state’s oppression of Catholicism.

I have lived among Mexican people my whole life. Their depth of faith is often impressive.
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Indeed. I also found HollyDolly’s remarks to be not based in sound history. As a matter of fact, actually, the deep faith of the Cristeros that devoutly fought President Calles’ anti-Catholic regime should be an example to everyone. Many martyrs there.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
Why do you think so many people pray to her? Are completed devoted to her?

Perhaps it falls into the category of superstition, but so do many other practices, especially in ethnic communities. Why do you think she is different?
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1 & 2) widespread ignorance and superstition
  1. I don’t
 
ComplineSanFran said:
I believe Santa Muerte is part of the culture of Dia de la Muertos, but not necessarily an outgrowth.

There is an excellent scholar of this saint and her following. He is called Andrew Chesnut and he holds the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is currently conducting research on the new religious economy of Latin America and the cult of Santa Muerte. I have read his book on her, which is titled: 'Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint.

From what I understand, her popularity is increasing not only in Latin America but is coming north. There are quite a few non-latins who are devoted to her. It’s quite fascinating.
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A lawyer I know represented a guy, a non-Hispanic from Texas. The guy had a strange tattoo and the lawyer asked him what it was. The man explained that it was Santa Muerte, but seemed reluctant to tell much more about it other than that it’s “protection”. The lawyer friend was not representing the man for drugs, but strongly suspected he was involved in the trade.

My guess is that the cult is pretty widespread, but for many it’s more a “half-belief”; something like the belief in the power of crystals by people who are otherwise more mainstream in lightly-held beliefs.

For many, it’s no doubt strongly-held, like Voodoo. But I think for some it’s a sort of “charm” without a whole lot of intended meaning.
 
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