Santeria: A Growing Problem For The Catholic Church

There is little question that Santería is growing in influence in the United States and in much of Caribbean Latin America. In Cuba and Venezuela, it has become a major problem for the Catholic Church.

If the belief were to stand alone, it would likely simply be considered another cult oriented religious practice, much like an ugly form of shamanism. The problem is that most of its adherents consider themselves to be Roman Catholics and insist on incorporating their heretical practices into Catholic liturgy.

Santería undermines orthodoxy and attacks the very heart of Christian belief by insinuating a pantheon of sub-gods into Catholicism. In Santería, traditional figures in the Church, for example, the Virgin Mary, become the public personas of African deities. Traveling with this conversion of Christianity is a whole liturgical system that incorporates such acts as invoking spirits, assigning magical powers to objects or idols, and opening spiritual portals. On the much darker side, it encourages animal sacrifice and grave robbing. Human skulls and various skeletal bones are prized as ways of making contracts with the dead. Full Story

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