Bishops denounce Mexican “Saint Death”

Bishops in the United States are denouncing “La Santa Muerte” (Holy Death or Saint Death) - the skeleton folk saint in Mexico linked to the illicit drug trade.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, and San Angelo Michael Sis in Texas joined their counterparts in Mexico last week in urging Catholics to avoid honoring to the folk saint. Wester called her "antithetical" to the teachings of Jesus.

The denouncement comes after Ciudad Juárez Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos attacked “La Santa Muerte” in a recent newspaper interview.

Popular in Mexico, “La Santa Muerte” is a folk saint also worshipped by some immigrant small business owners, gay activists and the poor.