Santa Muerte Origins Part 3 - Understanding How Catholic Christians Could Turn to the Santa Muerte

As a Christian, you might ask how any entity other than God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, could be looked to for aid while holding any claim to being a Christian. I mention that because her followers still hold tightly to their Catholic Christian faith. This is where, at least to Christians outside Catholicism, things get a bit sticky. Many in the U.S. protestant Christian population would recognize praying to entities other than God is strictly against the rules. However, protestant Christians only make up around one-third of Christians worldwide. In Catholicism, the veneration of, and prayers for, the intercession of saints are accepted and encouraged.

That said, my goal isn’t to start a dispute between protestant Christians and Catholic Christians regarding the saints but rather for protestant Christians to recognize this belief exists in a large part of the Christian population. The Catholic Church is concise in its doctrine regarding the difference between asking what is considered a past hero of the Christian faith to be a mediator to God versus the actual worship of a saint as a God. However, in my study of the Catholic faith and its complex history, I think it’s apparent the veneration of saints may have unintentionally provided paths away from God to those not well-versed in church doctrine. This fact has manifested in multiple ways over the sixteen hundred-plus years the Church has existed.

To be clear, the Santa Muerte is not accepted as a saint by the Catholic Church. Saints are scrutinized to prove their legitimacy. And the Church not only isn’t considering the Holy Death for sainthood, it denounces her as a pathway to Satan. So, take heed, protestants and Catholics alike, the Santa Muerte does not have a place in any form of Christianity.

Claiming the Santa Muerte is a Catholic Saint doesn’t hold water regardless. Because any saint in Catholicism, even the uncanonized, is supposed to be one with a special place in heaven that intercedes for a living person on earth to ask God for special aid. A saint is not a supernatural force that can provide power independently from God. Ergo, if her followers ask the Santa Muerte herself to grant wishes, she is not a saint. If they claimed they had an unruly angel on their hands, that would be a different story, and possibly the more likely one, which is a topic to drill down on in the future.

The academics claim a folk saint, however, doesn’t fit the definition the Church holds. A folk saint, instead, is a locally manifested entity. This supernatural force can be called on for aid that perhaps doesn’t abide by the rules of the governing religious doctrine.

Why Christians Should Care about the Growth of the Holy Death