Cardinal, exorcists have differing takes on ‘cleansing’ ritual performed on Mexican president 

Lima Newsroom, Oct 5, 2024 / 07:00 am

A Mexican cardinal and three priests, two of them exorcists, have differing takes on the “cleansing” ritual that was performed during the inauguration of the country’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum, a candidate of the coalition Let’s Keep Making History — which consists of the political parties National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), Labor Party (PT), and Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) — was the winner of the June 2 presidential elections. She assumed office on Oct. 1.

Sheinbaum succeeds President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, founder of MORENA who in December 2018 participated in a similar ceremony at the beginning of his term, as head of the Mexican government.

Among the various ceremonies at the inauguration of the first female Mexican president in the capital city’s Constitution Plaza — commonly known as Zócalo — a group of Indigenous women performed a “sacred ceremony” with incense, plants, fruits, and flowers, among other things, all with “their hands raised toward the east, where the sun rises,” according to one of the participants as reported by the Mexican news channel N+.

“We invoke the nahuales, the deities and the other beings and divine spirits that inhabit this place. We ask for life, enlightenment, and wisdom for the constitutional president, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo,” said one of the women at the beginning of the ceremony.

According to an article on the Mexican government website, nahuales are mythical beings and “are considered spirits or supernatural beings that have the ability to transform into animals. They are considered a protective spirit and spiritual guide that accompanies the person from birth to death, coexisting with each other.” 

“We entrust her to our African ancestors. We ask you, Father Sun, to dwell in her heart, just as you dwell in the hearts of the girls and women of Mexico,” the woman added during the ritual that lasted about half an hour.

‘A symbolic act of an outstanding debt’

Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, bishop emeritus of the Mexican Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in Chiapas state, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that he has “no reason to qualify this act as a show or populism; on the contrary, I consider it a symbolic act of an outstanding debt with the Indigenous peoples and a decision to revalue and recognize their rights in our laws as well.”

After recalling the similar event held for López Obrador, the cardinal stressed that, with this event, Sheibaum “wants to make these peoples more visible, particularly Indigenous women, the most marginalized. We hope that this is reflected in a daily commitment to these communities and that this permeates society, in which persistent racism still remains.”

Regarding religious freedom, the cardinal said he hopes the president will guarantee it and “has an open mind and heart to listen and take into account the contribution that the Christian religion makes to the construction of social peace.”

Arizmendi promotes an Indigenous rite of the Mass in order to “advance the progress of inculturation of the Church in the native peoples.” 

‘Our people are deeply Christian, Catholic’

Father Alberto Medel, exorcist and coordinator of the Theological Committee of the College of Exorcists of the Archdiocese of Mexico, explained to ACI Prensa regarding the ritual that “in reality, the Indigenous peoples are not what is represented there.”

“I don’t doubt that there are still small groups that worship or venerate the ancient Indigenous deities, but the truth is that our people are deeply Christian, Catholic,” he emphasized, and therefore “their traditions cannot be understood without the Christian faith.”

After rejecting the assertion of some that Indigenous peoples are “syncretic,” the Mexican exorcist said: “Frankly, I don’t believe it.”

Therefore, “what we saw there, to me, gave the impression that it was a script that some of the Indigenous women read, that was written by someone. An Indigenous person doesn’t speak like that, they use terms that ordinary people don’t use, rather it was written by someone, and well, after having been read by such a person, it winds up closing out a performance, but it is not authentically Indigenous.”

“This is just a performance, it is a way of ingratiating oneself, not even with the Indigenous people, but rather ingratiating oneself with a crowd that applauds this Indigenous sentimentality, because ultimately they end up using the supposed beliefs of the people,” the priest lamented.

After noting that a ritual like the one performed at the inauguration does not vindicate the Indigenous people but “makes them seem like believers of nonsense that nobody believes today,” Medel warned that “presenting people who believe that the sun is a divinity or that the moon is a divinity is ridiculing them.”

“So, I believe that those who do all these things, simply and plainly, have no scruples about denigrating people,” he emphasized.

‘A witchcraft ritual’

Father Eduardo Hayen, exorcist of the Mexican Diocese of Ciudad Juárez, published an article titled “Catholics and Pagan Rituals” in which he said the ceremony was in fact “a witchcraft ritual.”

Hayen then recalled that Sheinbaum is of Jewish origin and that “if she allowed herself to be cleansed of ‘bad vibes’ it is, rather, for ideological and populist reasons than religious ones. Sheinbaum follows the same book of indigenism as her predecessor.”

The priest then warned that Catholics should not participate in ceremonies of this type. “Claudia Sheinbaum did not participate in explicit and direct satanic worship. However, the worship of Satan can be carried out by believing, through ignorance, that idols, death, or unknown forces are being worshiped.”

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“There are groups that present themselves as non-satanic because they do not directly invoke demons but rather present themselves as cultural groups. But in reality they are satanic in the broad sense because they practice neopagan rites such as the worship of Mother Earth, the Mother Goddess, Mother Nature, or Pachamama,” the priest warned.

Hayen also recalled that Catholics “should not believe that it’s harmless to participate in certain pre-Hispanic rituals, such as those in which some Latin American presidents participate.”

“The objects used in pagan rituals can become — according to exorcism — binding objects that facilitate the extraordinary action of the devil on the person who uses them,” he warned.

Superstition that opens ‘doors to the devil’

Father Hugo Valdemar, who was director of communications for the Archdiocese of Mexico when Cardinal Norberto Rivera was bishop, told ACI Prensa that these types of rituals “that are superstition open doors to the devil, and if you open the door to the devil, he’ll even get into the kitchen, with serious spiritual and material consequences.”

“They’re not harmless rituals, they are an invitation for the evil one to enter, and he doesn’t think twice about entering and taking possession of the house,” he added.

Although it could be considered “a politically correct act,” the priest warned that at its core “these are superstitious, sinful, idolatrous acts, which bring harmful consequences, because they are religious rituals that have Satan as their center, even though they are disguised as something harmless.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

David Ramos and Diego López Colín contributed to this story.