Pope faces Mexicans worshipping skeletal 'Death Saint'

[Stylteralmaldo]

Tultitlán (Mexico) (AFP) - Two weeks after baptizing her at a Catholic church, baby Adriana’s parents put her in a white gown again for a second sacrament: This time, with Mexico’s skeletal “Death Saint.”

As they held the sleepy three-month-old child, a priestess sprinkled holy water infused with rose petals on her in front of 300 people under a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of the Grim Reaper-like “Santa Muerte” in a Mexico City suburb.

When Pope Francis arrives in Mexico for a five-day visit on Friday, he will find a country where devotion to Santa Muerte is growing fast despite the Vatican’s rejection of the figure as blasphemous.

Every Sunday, a big crowd comes to Enriqueta Vargas’ outdoor temple in Tultitlan to pray in front of the black fiber-glass statue, which was erected in 2007 in a lot and can be seen from a busy boulevard.

They leave tequila, candy and flowers at six chapels, where they pray for love, money or health. Vargas has gone a step further than at other Santa Muerte shrines in Mexico by officiating over weddings and baptisms.

Adriana’s young parents, Daniel Anguiano and Lucero Aguilar, had pleaded for help from Santa Muerte during complications in the pregnancy.

“I promised her that if she gave our daughter to me in good health, I would come here in front of her to baptize her,” said Anguiano, a 22-year-old Corona beer company worker.

Like many worshippers of Santa Muerte, Daniel and Lucero, 18, remain Catholic despite the Vatican’s hard line against it.

“Santa Muerte is an absurdity,” Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Mexico’s archbishop, told AFP. “Every Christian should be in favor of life, not death.”

But the Church is losing the battle against the Death Saint, which is famous for being worshipped by drug cartels but is followed by a wider sector of Mexican society, from the poor to blue-collar workers, police, doctors and teachers.

Journalists are “always looking for criminals but they never find them,” Vargas said before leading a mass-like ceremony in which people stood, kneeled and invoked the Death Saint while also reciting “The Lord’s Prayer” of Christian faith.

More:
news.yahoo.com/pope-faces-mexicans-worshipping-skeletal-death-saint-023005343.html

 

[Micosil]

I wish people would just forget that “Santa Muerte” (Saint Death? What the… ) thing. It has nothing to do with Catholicism.

The bishops of Mexico are tired of saying it.

 

[Padres1969]

Is this an outgrowth of Día de Muertos?

 

[Todd977]

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will. (St. Francis, Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon)

Speaking of death as a person reminds me of St Francis’ Canticle.

 

[ClearWater]

Unfortunately, it’s popular down here.

 

[adamhovey1988]

Tultitlán (Mexico) (AFP) - Two weeks after baptizing her at a Catholic church, baby Adriana’s parents put her in a white gown again for a second sacrament: This time, with Mexico’s skeletal “Death Saint.”

As they held the sleepy three-month-old child, a priestess sprinkled holy water infused with rose petals on her in front of 300 people under a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of the Grim Reaper-like “Santa Muerte” in a Mexico City suburb.

When Pope Francis arrives in Mexico for a five-day visit on Friday, he will find a country where devotion to Santa Muerte is growing fast despite the Vatican’s rejection of the figure as blasphemous.

Every Sunday, a big crowd comes to Enriqueta Vargas’ outdoor temple in Tultitlan to pray in front of the black fiber-glass statue, which was erected in 2007 in a lot and can be seen from a busy boulevard.

They leave tequila, candy and flowers at six chapels, where they pray for love, money or health. Vargas has gone a step further than at other Santa Muerte shrines in Mexico by officiating over weddings and baptisms.

Adriana’s young parents, Daniel Anguiano and Lucero Aguilar, had pleaded for help from Santa Muerte during complications in the pregnancy.

“I promised her that if she gave our daughter to me in good health, I would come here in front of her to baptize her,” said Anguiano, a 22-year-old Corona beer company worker.

Like many worshippers of Santa Muerte, Daniel and Lucero, 18, remain Catholic despite the Vatican’s hard line against it.

“Santa Muerte is an absurdity,” Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Mexico’s archbishop, told AFP. “Every Christian should be in favor of life, not death.”

But the Church is losing the battle against the Death Saint, which is famous for being worshipped by drug cartels but is followed by a wider sector of Mexican society, from the poor to blue-collar workers, police, doctors and teachers.

Journalists are “always looking for criminals but they never find them,” Vargas said before leading a mass-like ceremony in which people stood, kneeled and invoked the Death Saint while also reciting “The Lord’s Prayer” of Christian faith.

More:
news.yahoo.com/pope-faces-mexicans-worshipping-skeletal-death-saint-023005343.html

I doubt he is “worshiping” anything or anyone other than GOD!

 

[Padres1969]

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will. (St. Francis, Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon)

Speaking of death as a person reminds me of St Francis’ Canticle.

Seems a strange thing for someone who is Christian to profess that no one can escape Sister Death when the whole premise of Christianity is to do exactly that through Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. No wonder the Vatican is opposed to this practice. Seems like people who follow it but claim to be Christian are trying to serve two masters unless I’m very much misinterpreting what their belief in this Sister Death is…

 

[ComplineSanFran]

Is this an outgrowth of Día de Muertos?

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.

 

[josh987654321]

Unfortunately, it’s popular down here.

That’s a worry.

I certainly would not have anything to do with it, it looks demonic rather than saintly.

I think the Vatican is right to warn the faithful of this. I hope and pray the local Priests and Bishops do likewise.
Wisdom 1:13-5;2:23-24:

Death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living. To be - for this he created all; the world’s created things have health in them, in them no fatal poison can be found, and Hades holds no power on earth; for virtue is undying. Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover.

I hope this has helped

“For the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[Micosil]

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.

Yikes.

 

[retire_early]

First Commandment says not to have false gods, like this death “saint”.

What ignorance and superstition.

Better catechetical formation is needed, quickly!

 

[ComplineSanFran]

First Commandment says not to have false gods, like this death “saint”.

What ignorance and superstition.

Better catechetical formation is needed, quickly!

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?

 

[Micosil]

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?

Often, Santa Muerte stands near statues of Catholic images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin of Guadalupe, St. Peter, St. Jude, or St. Lazarus.[3] In the north of Mexico, Santa Muerte is venerated alongside Jesús Malverde, with altars containing both frequently found in drug busts.[25][26] However, some warn that Santa Muerte is very jealous and that her image should not be placed next to Catholic saints or there will be consequences.[3]

…

In Mexico, authorities have linked the worship of Santa Muerte to prostitution, drug trafficking, kidnapping, smuggling, and homicides.[2][5][15] Criminals, among her most fervent believers, are likely to pray to her for successful completion of a job as well as escaping from the police or jail. In the north of Mexico, she is venerated along with Jesús Malverde, the so-called “Saint of Drug Traffickers”. Malverde’s following is strong, especially in his hometown of Sinaloa, but the symbol of Santa Muerte is much more aggressive.[47]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte

Does this sound like a saint? I don’t think so.

 

[HollyDolly]

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.

 

[ProVobis]

And I just finished watching “The Story of Ruth.”

 

[Micosil]

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.

I’m not convinced this is the Church’s fault. Would you say the people’s defiance of the bishops in Medjugorje is also due to the Church not “truly” converting the locals?

Where I live, there is also a very extreme emphasis on Mary, to the point of many popular folk songs claiming she’s worshipped (in the sense of latria and not hyperdulia as would be appropriate). I live in Spain, a country that has had very deep historical ties with Catholicism for centuries (ever since Franco gave up the ghost and we became a “democracy” (lol), religiosity has declined, but that is besides the point). Would you say Spain was “never truly converted”?

 

[OU812]

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

Completely misguided.

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?

Well, offerings of tequila and cocaine might have something to do with it, as well as praying that nothing happens to the drugs being trafficked or to the drug traffickers themselves. Then there is that whole ordeal that those in the cartel who have died are labeled as martyrs in the same vain as all other Christian martyrs, as well as praying for her to take vengeance on those who have been wronged.

Do you really see this being compatible with Catholicism?

 

[ComplineSanFran]

Completely misguided.

Well, offerings of tequila and cocaine might have something to do with it, as well as praying that nothing happens to the drugs being trafficked or to the drug traffickers themselves. Then there is that whole ordeal that those in the cartel who have died are labeled as martyrs in the same vain as all other Christian martyrs, as well as praying for her to take vengeance on those who have been wronged.

Do you really see this being compatible with Catholicism?

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.

 

[Tablefor9]

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.

I don’t know that they haven’t been trying. Think about Mexican history and the government persecution of the Church there over the last 100-125 years and it might make more sense to you.

 

[pnewton]

Seems a strange thing for someone who is Christian to profess that no one can escape Sister Death when the whole premise of Christianity is to do exactly that through Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. No wonder the Vatican is opposed to this practice. Seems like people who follow it but claim to be Christian are trying to serve two masters unless I’m very much misinterpreting what their belief in this Sister Death is…

The Franciscan reference :“Sister Death” is different. This is just personification, as is used in poetry. If you noticed, it was in a canticle. St. Francis did this a whole lot. The rest of it is just a paraphrase of the scripture, “it is appointed unto men once to die.” Surely you do not think being a Christian prevents natural death. The next line of the canticle is:

No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.

This cult of death is different than Christianity. I cannot see how any Christian can be in such error, but Satan is a practiced deceiver.