Santa Muerte, press, church and state in Mexico

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the discursive construction carried out by the press, the Catholic Church and the state of the cult of Santa Muerte that, together, have created a discourse that relates this devotion to violence, drug trafficking and Satanism. For this, the review of newspaper articles, published in the last two decades, was carried out. The relationships evi- denced between the state, religion and civil society are extremely complex and have led to the stigmatization of part of the population related to this cult. This climate of opinion has favored the taking of measures against worship, but it has also led devotees to take public responsibility for their faith and to build their own apologetic narrative.