Vladimir Hernandez “The country where exorcisms are on the rise” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25032305
墨西哥では2006年以来、麻薬密売組織と政府との抗争で少なくとも７万人が亡くなっている。そして、それを悪魔の陰謀であると断定し、日々悪魔祓いに精を出しているカトリック神父たちがいる；
悪魔祓いの需要は、妊娠中絶の合法化と「死の聖人」（Santa Muerte）崇拝*1の蔓延によって増大しているという；
"We believe that behind all these big and structural evils there is a dark agent and his name is The Demon. That is why the Lord wants to have here a ministry of exorcism and liberation, for the fight against the Devil," says Father Carlos Triana, a priest, and an exorcist, in Mexico City."As much as we believe that the Devil was behind Adolf Hitler, possessing and directing him, we also believe that he (the Devil) is here behind the drug cartels."
Mexico's exorcists say there is unprecedented demand for their services.
Some are even not taking new cases, as they are having to exorcise demons almost every day.
"This didn't happen before", says Father Francisco Bautista, another exorcist in Mexico City.
Santa Muerteと麻薬組織との関係；
In Bautista's view, the rising demand for exorcism is partly explained by the large numbers of Mexicans joining the cult of Saint Death, or Santa Muerte.It is estimated that the cult, whose followers worship a skull in a wedding dress carrying a scythe, has some eight million followers in Mexico - and more among Mexican migrants in Central America, the US and Canada.
"It has also been adopted by the drug traffickers who ask her for help to avoid arrest and to make money," Bautista says. "In exchange they offer human sacrifices. And this has increased the violence in Mexico."
Another reason for the surge in exorcisms, he argues, is the decriminalisation of abortions in Mexico City, in 2007. Both the cult and abortion have given evil spirits a foothold in the country, he insists.
"Both things are closely related. There is an infestation of demons in Mexico because we have opened our doors to Death."
If it is surprising how many Mexicans believe in Saint Death, it may also be surprising how many believe, like Father Triana and Father Bautista, that the Devil and demons are at work in the country.
ただ次の”The cult is also followed by criminals, policemen, politicians and artists.”という文を読んで、ずっこけてしまった。麻薬組織を取り締まる側の警官もSanta Muerteを信仰しているんじゃないか。これって中華圏で黒社会と警察の双方が同じ関帝様を信仰しているのと同じ？*2
A frontline of sorts for Mexico's exorcists is the northern region of the country where, for the last seven years, the Mexican military has been waging war against the heavily armed and cash-rich drug cartels.In parallel with the soldiers, priests have been waging a spiritual conflict. One is Father Ernesto Caro, based in Monterrey, a city blighted by frequent shootouts and kidnappings.
He has exorcised several members of the drug cartels - and there is one case he cannot forget. It was a gang hitman, who confessed to horrific crimes. Father Caro said the man had been in charge of cutting the bodies into pieces and he said he enjoyed hearing them cry as he did so. Others he burned alive.
The priest says the man had committed his life to the service of Saint Death.
"The cult is the first step into Satanism and then into this band of people [the drug traffickers], that's why he was chosen for that job."
"Santa Muerte is being used by all our drug dealers and those linked to these brutal murders. We've found that most of them, if not all, follow Santa Muerte," he adds.
Santa Muerte崇拝の歴史について；
Santa Muerte崇拝の中心地にて；
"The biggest presence is in the poorest sectors of Mexican society," says journalist Jose Gil Olmos, who has published two books on Saint Death.The first references to Saint Death occur in the 18th Century, he says, not in Aztec times, as many believe.
"In modern times the numbers of followers exploded, especially after the early 1990s economic meltdown."
Many middle-class Mexicans found themselves in misery. In despair they searched for hope, and some turned to Saint Death, Olmos says.
"From approximately eight years ago we have seen Santa Muerte having a big presence with drug cartel members, from the bosses all the way down. Why? Because these people say that Jesus or the Virgin Mary can't provide what they ask for, which is to be protected from soldiers, police and their enemies."
なお今年になってヴァティカンはSanta Muerte崇拝を異端と認定し、断罪している*3。
I went to see what this cult was all about at its biggest annual ceremony in the neighbourhood of Tepito, in Mexico City, a place riddled with drug trafficking and crime.It's here that one of the biggest sanctuaries of Saint Death in Mexico is located. It's kept tidy by Enriqueta Romero, a woman in her sixties, whose life changed dramatically 12 years ago when she shocked her neighbours by putting a Saint Death figure in her window.
Over the years, more and more people started arriving to pay tribute to the skull figure in a dress. And now thousands gather for the cult's most important ceremony on 31 October, the eve of Mexico's Day of the Dead festival.
"She loves us and heals us. People come here to ask her for help - a son in prison or with Aids, or something to eat," says Romero.
During my visit, some people reach the shrine walking on their knees. One of them is a man who carries a 20-day-old baby in his arms. He's come to present his daughter to the skull.
I also see ordinary working-class families, pregnant women asking Death to protect the life of their unborn child, and plenty of people heavily tattooed with the female skull.
Are these people possessed, as the church says?
"No, I also believe in God, in the Virgin, and all the saints, but I am more devout to [Saint] Death. She is the one that helps me the most," says Jose Roberto Jaimes, a man in his 20s who's come on his knees to thank the skull after surviving three years in jail.
I get similar answers from all of the cult followers I talk to.
フォーク･カトリシズムに関しては、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20061009/1160391996も参照されたい。
ところで、日本で「銀河連邦」対「シリウス」の抗争を幻視している人がいるけれど、これに対しても悪魔祓いをお願いした方がいいのかどうか*4。
*1:See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte またhttp://www.santamuerte.org/は信者のサイト。
*2:See http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060329/1143638198
*3:“Vatican declares Mexican Death Saint blasphemous” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22462181
