Father Andrés Esteban López Ruiz, a member of the College of Exorcists of the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico, recently warned about the risks of the cult of “Santa Muerte” or “St. Death,” pointing out that those who practice it “implicitly or explicitly worship Satan, risking submitting themselves to him and experiencing his extraordinary action.”

In an article published on the website of the International Association of Exorcists, the priest noted that the “proliferation of this cult has led to a significant increase in the extraordinary action of the devil,” which can include demonic possession.

Father López said that Mexican exorcists have confirmed “numerous cases of oppression, obsession, and demonic possession linked to the practice and growing spread of the cult of ‘Santa Muerte.’”

According to the priest, this cult, far from being a “pre-Hispanic phenomenon,” dates back to the early 1960s and gained more notoriety in 1965. In that year, he noted, it was promoted in the Tepito market in Mexico City, a place “known for smuggling and illegal activities.”

In addition, the priest said it had a “significant development” in Catemaco, a town in the state of Veracruz that has “an ancient tradition of witchcraft, shamanism, and occultism.”

The Santa Muerte cult is a “Mexican version of satanic worship,” he pointed out, which fuses elements of “Brazilian quimbanda, Cuban Santeria, pre-Hispanic cultures, and occult satanism.”

The member of the College of Exorcists warned that this cult “includes satanic practices that materially and formally constitute apostasy, blasphemy, and sacrilege” as well as acts of “violence against life and very serious violations of the penal code, such as murders, crimes, robberies, and drug trafficking.” 

“These very serious sins place those who commit them under the direct control of Satan and, with divine permission, can easily become occasions for his extraordinary action,” the exorcist explained.

Father López warned that within the communities that idolize Santa Muerte, “formal pacts with the devil” are made by people who seek “gifts and wealth.”

“More and more people suffer not only from witchcraft in general but also from curses associated with this cult,” he added.

In addition to the pastoral response of the Catholic Church, which “seeks to preserve the people of God” from these evils “through the Gospel proclamation, catechesis, and education,” Father López stressed that in many cases “it is necessary to perform major exorcisms to help those who have suffered the consequences of the cult of ‘Santa Muerte.’”