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Mexico's church of `Saint Death' loses recognition

"This is clearly a persecution carried out by Rome."

David Romo Guillen, `Bishop'

Mexico's government canceled the official recognition of a religious group devoted to the worship of the Santa Muerte, or "Saint Death" on Friday, arguing the group had violated its own statutes.

While the cancellation will not prevent the group from continuing its religious practices, it does affect the church's right to raise money and own property. The group, known officially as The Traditional Catholic Mex-USA Church, has no ties to the Roman Catholic church.

However, when the group registered with the Interior Department in 2003, it declared its purpose was to "conserve the Holy Tridentine Mass." A dissident priest from the group asked the government last year to investigate the church, arguing it had violated that precept.

The group did not mention in its registry application that its main activity is to pray for the intercession of Saint Death, who devotees usually depict as a skeleton wearing women's robes and who they view as the right-hand servant of God.

Those rites appear to have little to do with the Tridentine Mass, the standard Latin Mass codified by Pope Pius V at the request of the Council of Trent in 1570.

"The complaint was filed by one of their own ministers, who requested their registration be canceled because they had severely altered the aims" of the group. For this reason, the group forfeits its legal standing, and with it such rights as owning property ... and publicizing or transmitting its religious events in the mass media," the Interior Department said in a statement.

David Romo Guillen, the self-styled Bishop of the church's main shrine in a tough downtown Mexico City neighborhood, said, "We are going to carry on despite this. We are going to hold various mobilizations to stop this injustice."

In March, hundreds of death worshippers carrying statues of the grim reaper and white flowers marched through downtown Mexico City to complain that because the group draws most of its followers from rough neighborhoods and prisons, society at large brands them as criminals or drug addicts. Many of the faithful recount miracles performed for them by Saint Death -- depicted as a smiling female skeleton known as our "Our Little White Girl."

The Saint Death rites, which are performed in Spanish, use some phrases of Catholic liturgy, but mix them with other references not found in the official cannon.

Romo Guillen accused the Catholic church of being behind Friday's decision.

"This is clearly a persecution carried out by Rome, through the offices and agencies of the government," Romo Guillen said. The Mexican Council of Bishops was not immediately available to comment on those allegations.
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