Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
We see it, we feel it. The saint is here.
The veneration of an image in the form of a human skeleton
has provoked controversy in Mexican religious society.
It is the veneration to "the Holy Death,"
or the "White Girl," as it is also known.
It is said that this worshipping is normally practiced by people
dedicated to crimes such as drug trafficking and kidnapping.
I believe that the members of drug-trafficking groups,
just like any other social group,
need some element of identification and cohesion,
and the religion serves as a nutrient of integration and cohesion.
And the groups, mainly those in the center of the country,
are linked to the cult of the Holy Death.
Meanwhile, toward the north of the country,
the cult of Jes˙s Malverde has more weight.
The cult of the Holy Death
has relations with the north, too,
especially with all of the criminal groups of Tamaulipas.
These people, who come from different parts of the city,
bring gifts to the holy image.
Candies, cigarettes, lanterns, flowers,
bottles of liquor and fruits are among the things they offer.
In Roman Catholicism, death is the end of a life,
and is, therefore, the limitation that every human being,
every creature has.
Therefore, it is not a character, it is not a being;
it is simply a limitation, a situation of life.
The Roman Catholic Church
openly opposes the existence of this belief
because it considers it to be linked to people who commit crimes.
All of a sudden, a kidnapper or people who commit bad deeds
make this reasoning:
Who will I ask to defend me, if I am going to kidnap, kill, ***?
I cannot ask God because God is not on that side.
I cannot become directly involved with the devil
because that would be directly selling my life.
So they create something in the middle. And a skeleton is convenient for them,
where they say, "It is not the devil and, furthermore, I am betting that since it is not death
and I am going to be gambling my life,
then death will not take me."
They make deals by talking to death
so that it will not take them.
In La Merced, another popular neighborhood in Mexico City,
is another example of devotion to the Holy Death.
But it is in a parish called an "apostolic,
traditional, Mexico-USA" church.
David Romo is the parish priest.
He says mass
before the congregation
every Sunday and on the first day of each month.
He is the one who confronts the Roman Catholic Church.
And within this group of drug traffickers,
drug addicts, people who are dedicated to evil,
of course they begin to create another cult
that is entirely different.
Look, this is black propaganda by the Roman Catholic Church
just to keep the people away,
so that they will not come close,
because, obviously, this is bad,
and there are bad people and you will go wrong.
She protects me, so then you have to give her dollars.
You have to offer her marijuana.
We must offer spits of alcohol.
We should offer shotgun shells
and also a dead body,
so that she will not take me.
And I can tell you, with evidence in hand,
who among the devotees is a drug trafficker and who is not.
We found two lines: one that includes naive people, the old woman,
the uneducated adolescent,
who worship Holy Death because of magic,
and others who worship the Holy Death
in a very dramatic and violent manner.
The Mariachi play to venerate her.
Miss Queta was the one who placed the "White Girl" outside of her house
and is the one who takes care of the sanctuary in Tepito.
I am very happy
when I see so many people,
because I see the people's faith.
I see how they love her, how they pray to her.
And this is a great satisfaction to me.
The followers assure that they have been
helped by the saint and say that not all of them are drug traffickers.
My father had an very bad accident.
He fell several meters
and survived.
The doctors gave no hope of life;
he fell and was basically paralyzed.
And when he was lying in bed, he saw a white person with him.
He pulled through and, thanks to God and her, he is walking.
You know, the parents inculcated her in me from birth. I always had respect for the saint.
I come to ask the saint to protect,
in particular, the agents, the thieves,
the drug traffickers. They are all protected by the Holy Death.
I feel that she is adored by those of us
who no longer have hope about other things.
It is like something new that is coming into our lives,
and we see that she really does not hurt,
because at some point she will take us.
She's like the *** of Guadalupe.
She is a saint, too, and gets you through all of your problems.
I've had two confrontations with people who
wanted to shoot me
and, up until now, they
have failed or I do not know what happened.
But I have gotten that blessing from her,
and here I am.
I was a person who lived in the street,
in the park.
She has helped me get out of various situations.
She has gotten me out of prison.
She got me out of the hospital,
she got me out of drug clinics.
My respect for the most holy saint.
I do not agree when they say that only drug dealers believe in her.
Perhaps because they are most at risk,
and she protects them,
because it is true she protects them.
But I do not agree with that.
They say that she is only for them.
There are many of us who are not involved in all of that
but we do believe a lot in her, and we have great faith in her.
The Holy Death is a figure that will always be associated with drug trafficking and crime.