rome was forever changed by the life of peter. >> she will punish usual enemies and protect your loved ones. she will give you justice, love, money, and revenge. all you have to do is ask. men who fear no one tremble before her. she's known by many names. the skinny lady. nina blanca, the holy death. santa muerte. the catholic church calls it

satanism, blasephemy. it denies her very existence, but she is worshipped by millions of people who live in the margins. i'm in mexico city to experience what has become a brand-new religion. the devotion of santa muerte. >> he is a scholar of religions, best selling author. >> a muslim, an american. what is your reaction? >> i've beentudying the world's religions for 20 years. and now i'm going to live them. mexico is one of the most

catholic countries in the world. in terms of population, it's second only to brazil. more than 80% of mexicans identify as catholic. that's nearly 100 million people. and as with most catholic countries, mexican catholicism is predicated heavily on the saints. while no one is clear on the exact number, currently there are more than 10,000 saints that the catholic church venerates and each saint has a very specific purpose. embarking on a long journey, pray to saint christopher, the patron saint of travelers. call your husband on ashley madison, pray to saint rita, the patron saint of marital problems. scheduled a root canal? pray to saint apalonia, the patron saint of dentistry. there is even a saint for biracial children.

saint martin de pareo who for some reason is usually depicted with a broom. but now there is a new saint in town, an unofficial saint. for many who worship her, it's an extension of their catholicism. yet the catholic church aggressively disavows her. her name is santa muerte. saint death. ♪ >> when you ask people where the santa muerte religion came from, you'll get half a dozen different answers. anthropologist scholars will say it's part of a mexican folk

religion, that you can probably trace it to 1980s or 1990s. but when you ask devotees worshippers where the cult of santa muerte come from, they'll point you to this. this is the ancient aztec god of the dead. the lowest part of the under world. very important aztec god. you can see with the skull imagery, very much like santa muerte. it's focused on concepts of death and the dying. in fact, there's evidence that there was some form of sacrifice, definitely some form of cannibalism that took place with his cult. and this is partly where some of the bad publicity with santa muerte comes. this is the pieta, the deceased

christ sprawled on the lap of the virgin mary. we've seen this in churches throughout the world. but here it's not the virgin mary who is supporting christ, it's santa muerte. catholic iconography coming together and creating something completely new. my friend professor laura is an anthropologist who has been studying santa muerte for more than 20 years. >> in 1991 i got my first santa muerte image and i loved her. >> back then devotion to santa muerte was a very private thing, right? what was the deal? >> i think that there was a sense that maybe this is not quite okay. maybe this has to do with -- >> satanism? >> no, not satanism. you didn't hear satanism at the beginning.

what you did hear was it was connected to traditional healers, ladies with herbs. you know, those women were very good at curing the physical ailments and the spiritual ailments at the same time, and the santa muerte was usually an element that could be drawn on. but it was something that you couldn't confess to the priest or in school, and mainly not to your medical doctor. >> right. >> that you were also going to those healers. passes from those little old ladies to young men in trouble. so, that brings us to jails. for a long time in mexico city prisons, you had a virgin of guadalupe tatoo on your back because nobody would shank the virgin of guadalupe. too much respect. later on she lost her credibility. it didn't provide enough safety. maybe because people stopped taking the churches seriously around the same time, the '80s and the '90s. santa muerte becomes much more

of a protector, appealing to a new population of young men who have got some kind of trouble in life. >> right. mexico is a country ravaged by crime and violence. much of it at the hands of drug cartels. but many believe that the corruption that allows these cartels to operate with mere impunity, which is up to the highest levels of the police and the government. what's it like being a journalist in mexico? >> since '88, journalists have died. the cartels are against up or the government is against you. >> some of the pressure hasn't come from criminals or gang tsz,

but from the state. >> yeah, you could get government politicians. who is your source? what did they tell you? where can we find them? >> that's scary. >> it's kind of difficult to work in that environment. you're good with the government as long as you're not political. >> the story that i think really changed everything for a lot of people was the story of the 43 students. i just looked over here. >> over there, missing 43. it was a state. alive they took them, alive we want them back. >> in 2014, 43 students from a rural teachers college were on their way to an anti-government protest when their van was intercepted by the local police force. the police allegedly handed them over to a criminal cartel. none of the students were ever heard from again. >> we now know it was the entire government that knew what was

going on and no one after. >> do you trust the police? >> no. >> do you trust the government? >> no. >> do you trust the state? >> no. >> is there anybody, any authority that you feel you can trust any more? >> no. >> the entire system is corrupt? yeah. you know, when i hear that, it makes sense to me why santa muerte has been surging. i mean, if you can't trust the civil infrastructure, if you can't trust the people who are supposed to protect you, you need something to protect you. >> when you have all these conditions around and you want things to get better, you turn to your saints. you turn to santa muerte, for example, which is safe. you turn to the super natural when you a can't get answers in the real world. >> nobody else is helping you. >> exactly. ♪

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and a community activist who was promoting the religion. he's the one who constructed the 70-foot statue of her in 2007. but he was killed before the shrine could be completed. no one was ever charged with the crime. >> how did he die? >> 13 different people, that sounds like an execution. >> did you want revenge? >> for you that was santa muerte saying that she was answering your prayer. >> true to her word, she has transformed her son's small shrine into a thriving community of santa muerte devotees. there are similar sidelines across mexico and even in the

united states where people come to petition her with prayers and offerings. as with most other saints, you can pray to santa muerte for very specific things. it all depends on what color dress she's wearing. >> protection. >> enrique also ministers to prisoners. today she is offering mass at the prison, a verely overcrowded jail near mexico city. this facility was originally built to hold about 60 inmates, but it's currently home to more than 240. the prison is so broke that they can't even afford inmate uniforms. everyone here is responsible for

clothing themselves. to accommodate the prisoners, every nook and cranny is occupied.

here, everywhere i turn i see santa muerte. so, that right there is called the new trinity. santa muerte in the middle. next to her is saint jude. patron saint of delinquents. on the other side of santa muerte, al derde, a late 19th century, early 20th century narco trafficker, a criminal. what do you say to people who say santa muerte is just a criminal saint? >> once a month enriqueta visits the prison to lead them in a mass. >> during the service when we

were praying, we were praying for protection and for peace.

i was surrounded by all these prisoners who have been here for god knows how long, and who are really relying on santa muerte to get by every day. >> all i could pray for was thanks.

i was just thanking santa muerte that i'm not here, and that i have justice and that i have freedom and all the things that i take for granted. sprint's unlimited plan is 50% less than verizon and at&t rates with only a 1% difference in network reliability. (vo) get unlimited! for people with hearing loss, 50% off verizon and at&t rates. visit sprintrelay.com. at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly.

this is one of the thousands of parish churches that dot the entire mexican landscape. devotion to santa muerte has been part of mexican culture more than 100 years. for the most part, the catholic church tolerated it. parish priests understood it was part of folk religion, part of the general sense of spirituality that makes mexico so unique. then in the 1990s, the mexican cardinal, cardinal rivera, essentially declared a war

against santa muerte saying that it was a gateway to satanism. but the negative attacks against santa muerte resulted in a public outcry, a backlash from her devotees in trying to root out santa muerte devotion in mexico, he may have crystallized it here forever. a lot of the santa muerte devotees that i speak to, they actually still think of themselves as catholics. do you think that you could still be a faithful catholic and also pray to santa muerte? >> no, unless santa muerte -- >> right.

and what about saint jude, what would catholics pray to saint jude for? >> for a lot of santa muerte devotees, that's what they pray to santa muerte for. it's okay to pray to those things to saint jude, but not to santa muerte? >> this is tepito, one of the roughest neighborhoods in mexico

city. most travel guides will steer you away from this place. even mexico city dwellers consid the neiboooa no-go zone. 72 blocks of latin america's biggest black market, a refuge for drug dealers, smugglers, and pick pockets. tepito has become this center of santa muerte devotion in mexico city for a whole host of reasons, particularly this area here which is going to be full of thousands of people walking along this route to this temple to santa muerte in this store

front. this small shrine is the heart of santa muerte devotion in mexico. in contrast to that, just about 50 feet away, is this. this altar was put here by a couple of the neighboring parishes as a way of discouraging people from the worship of santa muerte right next door. you can see how big and grand this is compared to what is really a small santa muerte shrine and, of course, with these eyes staring at the devotees as they make their way down the street to santa muerte. i don't think it works. the santa muerte shrine in tepito is overseen by an elderly grandmother who has become the high priestest of santa muerte devotion.

one of the most fascinating aspects of santa muerte devotion is that it's led almost wholly by women. this shouldn't come as a surprise considering that this is a movement that began in the kitchens of traditional female healers. >> she has become one of the most unlikely of religious crusaders. it all started when her son gave her a santa muerte statue that

was too big for her tiny house. so, she put it outside on the sidewalk. at the time santa muerte devotion was a secret and private affair. people were amazed at her brazenly public act of devotion. they took their que from her. they started bringing out their own santa muerte statues, displaying them publicly. they began flocking to her house in solidarity with her. next thing you knew, this small house in the middle of the tough neighborhood became a kind of mecca for santa muerte devotees all across mexico. so many people come here from all over mexico with their offerings, with their prayers, and i notice that they all have something very specific that they are asking for, whether it's love or a job or protection. when you pray to santa muerte, is there something specific that you ask for?

>> a lot of devotees of santa muerte don't see any conflict with the church, but i can't help but notice that the church thinks differently. they dismiss santa muerte. they say, oh, it's a narco religion, it's a religion for criminals. when you hear that, what do you think? what's your response? >> you really feel that santa muerte is reaching out specifically to those who have no other recourse, nobody else to turn to? for adults with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene who've tried an fda-approved targeted therapy... this is big. a chance to live longer with opdivo (nivolumab). opdivo demonstrated longer life and is the most prescribed immunotherapy

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so, what's this neighborhood called? >> this is roma. >> so, this is like where the mexican hipsters live? >> definitely where the hipsters are. >> even here you'll find santa muerte devotees? >> yes. >> in an upscale neighborhood, i'm meeting with a mexican-american journalist who has tracked the spread of santa muerte all the way up to new york. >> the thing you're seeing increasingly is something that began for marginalized people is spreading to all sectors of society. students, doctors, lawyers. everybody needs help.

>> check this out. >> even in this park, we're going to see a little shrine like this. >> they're everywhere. >> i brought a little bottle of tequila. once you notice her, once you know what you're looking for, you're going to see it all over the place, including the united states. there are several temples in los angeles, new mexico, texas. there is a famous devotion tour in queens, in new york. the devotion there centers around the transwoman whose name is areli and the connection is actually very direct in that there is a group of transectionual women here and it's spread through this social network. >> so, is santa muerte devotion, is that like really taking off among the trans community in mexico? >> yeah, it's definitely a big part of that. you have to think this is a group of people that find

themselves isolated and, you know, a lot of trans people, if they're lower class find themselves doing sex work. there is some overlap there because santa muerte is also extremely popular among prostitutes. if you have people that are doubly marginalized, i think santa muerte holds a lot of appeal. santa muerte accepts everybody. >> adrian is taking me to meet three transgendered prostitutes to see how santa muerte helps them cope with their dangerous existence on the streets of mexico city. >> scarlet. i brought something for santisima. is that okay? >> my name reza is like a spanish word, you know?

and when i came to america in 1979, 1980, there was a lot of anti-iran feelings in the u.s. i told everybody i was mexican. i learned spanish. i actually belong to a break dance group called el norte. why do you think so many trans people are attracted to santa muerte? what is it they get from her? >> so, you reward her when she answers your prayer and then punish her when she doesn't. >> so, are you afraid when you go out to work? is it dangerous for -- specifically for prostitutes, i imagine? yeah, very dangerous. >> santa muerte, you pray for protection?

>> is that the same for you? all this talk about death and a holy death, you know, saint death, it kind of makes one think there is an obsession with death and dying in santa muerte.

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and a holy death, you know, saint death, it kind of makes one think there is an obsession with death and dying in santa muerte. >> i think it's kind of the opposite. santa muerte has to do with relieving your fear of death so you can live. >> laura has brought me to the s ono ra market to guide me through the process of finding my own santa muerte icon. i see santa muerte everywhere. i see santa muerte in there. she is holding a ceremony tonight. if i want to be a part of it, i need my own statue. look at this. so, it's a little bit of everything. santa ria, even some voodoo dolls. can we see that one? that's a good one. >> look at that. >> i see the owl a lot. do you know what that represents? >> wisdom. >> oh, yes and she's got some money so that's good.

okay. well, let me see if she's speaking to me. >> she's not going to speak to you because she's not activated yet. >> she's not activated. she's just a statue. >> she needs to be sort of purified basically. >> can you activate it? i'd love that. >> my santa muerte was a black dress because my prayer is for protection. >> the spirit of santa muerte is now inside and now it's up to me to basically care for her and give her what she needs and take the blessing of protection from her. i have heard a lot of adherents. i've heard a lot about it, it feels a little weird, but i feel a strange affection for her. i don't know how to describe it, but i kind of feel this connecti.

now that i've activated my personal santa muerte icon, i'm ready to go to donaketas, and experience a ceremony that i've only read about in articles and

books. tonight is the year's biggest santa muerte celebration. it falls on one of the three nights of dia de las mertas. although they revere death, they're not the same thing. it focuses on praying for and remembering loved ones who have passed away. while santa muerte is a celebration of death itself as a natural part of life.

>> everybody comes here with their own personal idols. people will lay them across the way and everyone just exchanges gifts with each other. everyone gives each other candy, cigar, cigarettes. as i walk people keep spraying me with alcohol, some tequila, i got a little bit of whiskey. all of it is to purify santa muerte which activates her power, otherwise she's just a statue. it's the spirit of santa muerte that actually makes it magical, that gives it its powers, spirituality. santa muerte really likes marijuana. there is a real sense of camaraderie here even though there is no specific network that joins these individuals. it's just a sense that on this day they're all here for the same purpose. doniaketa.

her santa muerte blesses our santa muertes. on this occasion she has dressed her in a wedding dress.

>> we're here that

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>> for god so love the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that who so ever believe him shall never die and have eternal life. some would say that religion is all about death, controlling it, escaping it, making sense of it. we can go back to the burial site and there we can see evidence that they believed that something else happened after this life, but this wasn't it. that sense that some part of us continues ultimately gave birth

to myths and rituals, ways of understanding that conquering and all religions have this primal urge to figure out what happens next, do we simply disappear. do we get punished or rewarded for our behavior. is it just a cycle. do we die and just start all over again. so it makes sense that this obsession with debt would ultimately lead to the worship of death. after all, if you worship her, then you never have to fear her because she comes for all of us and that the best way to deal with that is to praise her name.

>> an ultimatum, u.s. president trump says if china doesn't act, the u.s. will deal with north korea on return. >> a desperate search for survivors after landslides killed more than 200 people. >> and taking a turn for the worse as the kremlin calls pentagon comments absurd. hello, welcome, happy to be with you here. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm george howell from cnn world headquarters newsroom starts right now. >> it's 2:00 a.m. on u.s. east