Devotion to unsanctioned Catholic folk saints is one of the fastest growing religious movements in Latin America and is surging in the U.S., experts say.
The big picture: Some Latinos who feel alienated by Christian traditions are turning to saints not sanctioned by the struggling Catholic Church for spiritual guidance around love, crime and money.
- Catholic leaders worldwide have denounced unofficial "narco" saints as sinful, but makeshift shrines continue to pop up, from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to New Orleans.
Details: Catholic canonization of saints often takes years of thorough reviews of miracles performed and of the figure's contributions. Believers say unsanctioned saints offer divine assistance to steal gas, move a drug shipment, cross a border, or bless an LGBTQ+ romance.
- They're gaining devotees in Mexico and the U.S., said Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan chairman in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
- Though the exact number of followers is difficult to determine, Chesnut said its growth is undeniable: statues, clothing and candles in their honor can be found in stores and other public places in the Southwest and major U.S. cities, and especially in Mexico.
- "Some folks have become disenchanted with organized religion. Other folks who might be LGBTQ+ are alienated by both Protestant and Catholic Church positions on gay marriage. These Saints offer an alternative."
La Santa Muerte, a skeleton figure that resembles the Grim Reaper, is the most well-known.
- Known as Holy Death, she appeals to people seeking help with a lover, carrying out vengeance and landing a better job. Although originally tied to cartels, devotees now include members of LGBTQ+ communities and the middle class.
Jesús Malverde, sometimes referred to as the "angel of the poor," is reportedly based on the legend of a Robin Hood figure from the Mexican state of Sinaloa in the early 1900s.
- Most recently, the Elvis-resembling saint was strongly identified with the Sinaloa Cartel, whose soldiers asked him for protection. But a new 80-episode fictional Netflix series about Malverde has expanded his popularity in Mexico.
Santo Niño Huachicolero, a perversion of the Roman Catholic image of Santo Niño, depicts the Christ child with a can of gasoline and a hose.
- He's the patron saint of gas thieves who ask for help to avoid arrest, prevent fires and protect their families from a different kind of flame.
St. Jude, an official Catholic Saint of Lost Causes, has been adopted by some cartels and marginalized youth.
- Chesnut said if a St. Jude statue is holding his staff in his left hand, devotees can ask for help to carry out less-than-legal activities.
The other side: "We must distinguish true saints from false saints and superstitions," Most Rev. Michael J. Sis, Bishop of the Roman Catholic San Angelo, Texas, Diocese, said in a statement in 2017 over the growth of the folk saints.
- Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the President of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, also denounced the Santa Muerte practice as "sinister and infernal" in 2013. He called it a "blasphemy of religion."
Yes, but: A forthcoming book, "Undocumented Saints: The Politics of Migrating Devotions," by William A. Calvo-Quirós, argues that racism, violence and poverty gave rise to the saints.
- Calvo-Quirós told Axios that the folk saints represent the community who revere them and that devotion crosses borders. They don't need permission from churches or government officials to exist.
- "Saints emerge many times during periods of extreme crisis so they can become the ties to tell the story of our community," said Calvo-Quirósm, an assistant professor of American Culture and Latinx Studies at the University of Michigan.
- Devotees feel these folk saints don't judge them or look down on their request for miracles under extreme difficulty, Calvo-Quiró said.
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