Vatican official denounces Mexican death cult

May 10, 2013

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, has denounced the Mexican cult of Santa Muerte as “a blasphemy against religion.”

Santa Muerte (“Saint Death”), typically pictured as a grotesque skeleton, is frequently invoked in regions where drug trafficking is prevalent. The cult is “a degeneration of religion,” Cardinal Ravasi told an audience in Mexico City. "Religion celebrates life, but here you have death," he said.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican cardinal says Mexico’s folk Death Saint is blasphemous, decries its worship by gangs (AP)
• Vatican declares Mexican Death Saint blasphemous (BBC)