Mexico sees rise in new 'Black Angel' satanic cult

In the Mexican neighborhood of Tepito, a cult called "El Angelito Negro" (Black Angel in English) has emerged. The cult worships Lucifer, symbolized by an imposing altar barely a hundred meters from the more famous temple of another popular figure, Santa Muerte.

The ritual of Alexis, or “El Chino” as his friends know him, consists of lighting a cigarette and bathing the “black angel” in smoke, represented as a figure sitting in the middle of a giant inverted pentagram that occupies an entire wall of the room, according to EFE.

At the feet of the figure, people can find money, candles, beer cans, a glass of wine, a pizza, among other objects. On the floor, several salt circles apparently serve to cleanse the place of negative energies. On the sides of the altar, there are inverted black crosses.

"I began to worship the Black Angel when my mother got sick. She had cancer. And I asked him and promised him that if he helped me to get my mother out of cancer, I would give him my body and soul," one source, who only identified themselves as 27 year old Alexis, told EFE on Sunday. He says he is the father of two children, and takes care of the altar.

The followers of the Black Angel

Javier, another source interviewed, who says he was once an altar boy in a Catholic church, is also now a faithful follower of the little Black Angel.

"I feel good with him and he has given me what I have asked for. He has opened many paths for me, and has given me a lot of work in my life. And that's how I began to believe in and adore him," the young musician told EFE.

"I was a Catholic and I used to pray to God and the truth is that I did not see results, but I approached [the Angelito] and I began to see results, to believe. It is very nice, the truth," he added.

Like Javier, Alejandro, a 30-year-old purported merchant, decided to pay tribute to the Black Angel after having been a devout Catholic.

Mexico is the second country in the world with the largest Catholic population after Brazil with more than 97.8 million people, according to the 2020 census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). According to the census, more than 77.7% of the population practice this religion.

However, this percentage is much lower than the 82.7% of the population that the census reported a decade ago, signaling a strong detachment from the Catholic religion.