The Mexican Government vs. The Saint of Death

[BridgeTheGap]

Many of Mexico's poorest Catholics count themselves among the devotees of a skeletal woman saint called La Santa Muerte, or the Saint of Death. It is bad fortune for the faithful that another sub-group of Mexican Catholics have followed them to the altar: members of Mexico's notorious drug cartels who have been known to construct private shrines to "the white lady" in their mansions. Now the government of Mexico has begun destroying public Santa Muerte shrines—more than thirty of them—as an act of psychological warfare in their battle against the cartels.

There is no word on how the narcos are taking it, but the people are protesting. As a Religion Dispatches report makes clear: Santa Muerte’s followers are mostly salt-of-the-earth types—the kind of people already in up to their eyeballs in the violence of a war for which they bear no responsibility:

http://www.utne.com/Spirituality/Saint-of-Death-vs-Mexican-Government-Guntzel.aspx?utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

[YOY]

1. I prefer the Saint of Killers myself...

[edhopper]

3. Preacher!!

One of the best comics ever!

[YOY]

4. I still prefer Arseface.

;)

[RandomThoughts]

2. It is not considered a saint in the Catholic church.

This might mean different things to different people, but the article did not mention that it is a not a Saint according to Catholic doctrine.

I am not Catholic, but the site below list the Saints. And other sites called the name a Mythical Saint, and not part of the the Catholic Saints. I agree with them on avoiding death cults, or worship of icons of death cults. But there are many that believe in different ways.

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/saints/patrons.asp

This site says saint that intercede in areas associated with death is
St. Joseph
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1327

And the angels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are also listed.
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1153

[struggle4progress]

5. Santa Muerte is No Saint, Say Mexican Bishops (Nov 08)

According to a statement by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City on November 3, 2008, popular devotion to the so-called "Saint Death" is not compatible with the Catholic faith ...

Cult spokesman David Romo Guillén, who styles himself as a bishop, declared that his group "The Mexico-US Tridentine Catholic Church" or "The Traditional Catholic Mex-USA Church" has temples in Mexico and prayer groups in the US – including Texas, California, and Washington DC. However, a spokesman of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington DC in an email response to Spero News declared that he "had no knowledge" of the cult, while no response was forthcoming from the Los Angeles Catholic archdiocese about St. Death ...

Catholic Church authorities concur that Santa Muerte seeks to lull the uninformed into believing that the cult represents an authentic form of Christianity. Apparently lending credence to this assertion, Santa Muerte cult spokesman Romo has spoken of himself to the press as "bishop" and further emulates the Catholic Church by wearing garb typical of Catholic clerics. Romo and other "priests" of Santa Muerte even hear confessions, but espouse a theology at odds with any recognizable form of Christianity. Reuters news service helped along the farce by referring to Romo as a "Catholic" priest, while the Mexican newspaper "La Reforma" refers to the cult as "Catholic, albeit not Roman" ...

http://banderasnews.com/0811/edat-santamuerte.htm

[Why Syzygy]

6. IIRC

part of my scant celebrity watching indicated that Jennifer Lopez follows this 'religion'.

[struggle4progress]

7. Aside from recognizing the name as one I regularly ignore, I have no idea who she is:

googling suggests she's a scientologist; image searches produce a face that looks only vaguely familiar. But then my heros of the female persuasion run along the lines of Eleanor Roosevelt or Bella Abzug or Barbara Jordan