The Catholic Church has condemned Santa Muerte services as devil worship, and law enforcement authorities have linked the cult to violence committed by drug traffickers and child prostitution rings. . . .

Still, the real power behind the cult comes from Mexico's impoverished and neglected masses. . . . Those who attended this month said they were devout Catholics, but they said they adored Santa Muerte because she was their creation and because she had been created in their image.

According to her followers, Santa Muerte is not above pleasures of the flesh, even though she has no flesh. She prefers feathered boas and sequined gowns to celestial blue robes illuminated by the sun. She likes chocolates and flaunts rows of rings on each finger. She chain-smokes, and drinks her whiskey straight. . . .

Hayde Solís Cárdenas, 65, offered typical testimony. She sells smuggled tennis shoes for a living. . . . She said the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint, would not sympathize with a life like hers, tending rather to well-off people with college degrees and nice clothes. Santa Muerte, she said, hears prayers from dark places.

“She was sent to rescue the lost, society’s rejects,” Ms. Solís said.

“She understands us, because she is a cabrona like us,” the street merchant added, using a Mexican expletive. “We are hard people and we live hard lives. But she accepts us all, when we do good and bad.”

—— Ginger Thompson, “On Mexico’s Mean Streets, Sinners Have a Saint,” NYT, 26 March 2004