Sometimes one wonders about absolute freedom of religion:
From CNA:
Father Hugo Valdemar, spokesman of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, warned this week about the “terrorist” nature of the call for a “holy war” against the Catholic Church by the leader of followers of “St. Death.”
David Romo Guillen, leader of the devotion to “St. Death,” especially popular among drug traffickers and criminals, called for a “holy war” against the Catholic Church after the Mexican Army destroyed several places of worship it suspected to be criminal hideouts, especially in the northern part of the country.
“Only terrorist or fundamentalist leaders call for holy wars, like Bin Laden or the Taliban. It’s a shame that Mr. Romo makes himself equal to the Taliban or a terrorist by calling for a holy war,” said Father Valdemar. After the destruction of the suspected hideouts, Romo blamed the military’s actions on the Catholic Church, because several bishops had warned against the devotion and called it un-Christian.
This Monday, the followers of St. Death, led by David Romo, protested outside the Cathedral of Mexico City, bearing pictures of the “White Child,” the name they have given to St. Death, represented by a skeleton dressed in a white tunic or sometimes in a wedding gown.
From:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/south/view/2009_04_08_Man_convicted_of_forcing_women_to_work_as_sex_slaves/srvc=home&position=recent
Quote:
Authorities said one of the women testified at the sentencing Monday that Flores forced them to pray at a shrine to Santa Muerte (Saint of Death), a religious figure who receives prayers for luck and protection. Flores told her the saint protects him and would punish her if she ever tried to escape or report him.
It would be nice if, just for once, the Catholic “hierarchy” would translate words into actions (like excommunication). Unfortunately, the only thing the “hierarchy” is good at is meaningless words.
This calls to mind Christ’s words in St. Matthew’s Gospel: “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the Earth?”
I don’t think the followers of Santa Muerte particularly care if they are excommunicated or not. One has to remember that many Mexican people have an anti-clerical streek two miles long, and could care less what the hierarchy says about Jesus Malverde, Santa Muerte, or St. Jude, for that matter (another saint popular with drug traffickers).
Having written extensively about Santa Muerte, I think the cult has degenerated into something profoundly disturbing, though the figure of Santa Muerte is someone who has been in Mexican folklore for at least a few centuries, and not just as a remnant of “Aztec beliefs” (indeed, of these there are few and they are far between). The most pertinent essay that I have written recently on this topic is called La nueva narco-religion, which discusses the ties between the rise of the drug trade and folk Catholicism.