Horrible blasphemy: They mix the cult of Santa Muerte with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico

The “Santa Muerte”, a cult considered satanic originating in Mexico and frequented by criminals, has been mixed with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, one of the most devoted Marian devotions in America and in the world.

It is, Father Stefano Cecchin, OFM, president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI), recently told ACI Prensa, “a horrible blasphemy”: “they put the face of death on the Virgin of Guadalupe and they are spreading it.”

“Drug trafficking has everything (this cult) in its hands,” he denounced.

Father Cecchin highlighted that in PAMI they have “a section called ‘Free Mary from the mafias’”, in which they work hand in hand with civil authorities.

“This is fundamental,” he said, because “the mafias abuse the image of Mary,” using it “for their personal interests. And this is where we must say: ‘be careful.'”

Various Mexican media reports report the discovery of satanic altars, which include statues of “Santa Muerte”, in the homes of people intervened by the police, accused of links to organized crime.

“A true idolatry”

Father Eduardo Chávez, Master Guadalupan Theologian of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City and director of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies (ISEG), considers the mixture of the cult of Santa Muerte with the image of Saint Mary as something “terrible, it is true idolatry.”

“In this idolatry of Santa Muerte, the only thing you find is death, destruction, corruption, murder and destruction of the same person,” he told ACI Prensa.

This cult, he warned, “goes against the Catholic Church itself, goes against the Blessed Virgin, goes against the Virgin of Guadalupe, goes against the truth, happiness and plenitude in the true God and Lord.”

Father Chávez, considered the greatest expert on the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, highlighted that “the Guadalupe Event is the perfectly inculturated model of evangelization.”

“That is, the Virgin of Guadalupe places Jesus in the heart of every human being. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the one who takes what we call seeds of the Word – that is, what God has already planted in each heart, since all human beings are the image and likeness of God – (…) and brings them to the fullness of the true God through whom one lives.”

“The Virgin of Guadalupe is not an external adaptation, it is not a syncretism. The Virgin of Guadalupe is an inculturation of the one who is the Gospel, that is, Jesus,” he stressed.

The postulator of San Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, the visionary of the Virgin of Guadalupe, also lamented that “unfortunately, when they do not encounter the true God and Lord, idols begin to arise, things that are not true, things that are not true, and they begin to stir, to mix totally different things, things even contradictory, like the famous Santa Muerte,” to whom “they put a mantle like the of the Virgin of Guadalupe and muddy in a terrible syncretism what are true things, but with totally idolatrous things.”

“A wake-up call to the Church”

For the coordinator of the Theological Committee of the College of Exorcists of the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico, Father Alberto Medel, “the growth of the cult of Santa Muerte and the mixture with the Marian cult is a wake-up call to the Church that indicates that it has a great debt, that something is not being done well.”

In statements to ACI Prensa, Father Medel warned that this is a “symptom of a disease, of a Church that has not known how to be a mother that welcomes its suffering children, that has not known how to alleviate their pain, that the doors are closed to those who suffer grave suffering and they have to knock on other doors because they have found the door of the Church closed.”

“The catechization that the pastors of the Church must provide to the faithful, especially the simplest and those who suffer so much, is imperative,” he stressed.

The Mexican priest stressed that the Catholic Church must “foster true devotions that, as a result of Christian piety that is guided by faith, respond to the needs of the Christian faithful who do not understand theologies, but sincerely seek God.”

“The promotion of true devotion also involves the publication of little books and devotionals that serve the Christian faithful,” he said, while lamenting that “it is very sad to see that the healthy practice of publishing devotional books that are authorized by the Church has been left aside and that this lack has given rise to the proliferation of religious literature without a correct doctrine and, sometimes, promoting ideas and practices. superstitious.”

“Characteristics of satanic cult”

Father Medel warned that the cult of Santa Muerte, popularized in the center of the Mexican capital during the second half of the 20th century, “has characteristics of a satanic cult, since the evil attributes that are given to her supposed power, and also the favors that are asked of her, go against life, the dignity of people and the practice of good.”

“It is, then, an idolatrous practice that distances one from true religion and debases those who practice it by attributing divine forces to beings that not only do not exist, but also put themselves before God,” he said.

“Many faithful, in their desperation due to the serious difficulties they face, combined with their poor practice of faith, look for solutions in easy and quick solutions that trap them in the prison of superstition and sink them deeper into their same difficulties,” he noted.

“The great danger” of mixing the Virgin of Guadalupe with the cult of Santa Muerte

The Mexican priest indicated that those who mix the cult of Santa Muerte with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe do so “to ‘sacralize’ their cult,” in such a way that they feel that they are not doing “anything wrong, because ‘along with the cult of Santa Muerte, they also worship the Little Virgin who is Mother of all.’”

“With this way of thinking and acting, they lower the worship that true faith makes us give to the Mother of God in her dedication to Guadalupe and divert them to a worship that is also idolatrous, attributing to the Blessed Virgin Mary powers that she does not have and putting her before God.”

He then warned about “the great danger faced” with this mixture: “they confuse the faithful, divert from the cult that pleases God, lower the honor due to the Mother of God and elevate the cult of Santa Muerte to a level that it cannot and should not have.”

“The best defense against the wiles of the devil”

Father Medel highlighted that “the exorcistic practice of the Church and the great teachers of the spiritual life confirm to us that all the things that the Church has taught us and has promoted throughout the centuries is the best defense against the snares of the enemy, in addition to making the sincere feelings of faith grow in us that move us to render to God the only true worship that pleases Him and that sanctifies us.”

“I am referring to the sacramental life, that is, to the Sunday Eucharistic communion and frequent confession, the visit and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the daily reading and meditation of short texts of the Holy Scripture, such as those proclaimed every day in the Holy Mass and the use of prayer books and devotional books approved by the Church, which must be purchased in Catholic bookstores and which are sometimes offered in the parishes.”

“We were created to live fully through love and this can only be achieved by the hand of the one who created us, so let us do as the psalm says ‘take the test and you will see how good the Lord is’, only in this way will we grow in the conviction that we can do everything in Christ and we will not fall prey to superstitious and idolatrous practices,” he concluded.