A senior Vatican official has condemned the cult of Santa Muerte, or Holy Death, in Mexico as "blasphemous".
The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, said worshipping Santa Muerte was a "degeneration of religion".
Cardinal Ravasi spoke at a series of events for believers and non-believers in Mexico City.
The cult, which reveres death, has been growing rapidly in Mexico.
It is represented by a cloaked female skeleton clutching a scythe.
It is particularly popular in areas of Mexico that have suffered from extreme violence carried out by the country's drug cartels.
The cult is believed to date back to colonial times.
It merges indigenous beliefs with the tradition of venerating saints introduced by Christian missionaries after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
The Vatican can "condemn" whatever they want to, but that doesn't mean people will stop doing it. That's their opinion, but this cult will believe what they believe.
I think when you live in areas so torn by drug wars you lose hope, and unfortunately some people turn to cults. But im pretty sure this figure isnt just worshipped by cult members and drug dealers death is a big part of mexican culture.
Of couse the Vatican can say this because well they can say whatever they want haha. But this does not mean they have a right to act on in in anyway if they plan to take it to that step.
