Within the new religious movement of Santa Muerte words have always held a particular importance.
A prayer is not merely a sequence of beautiful or evocative phrases: for many devotees it is an act of connection, a dialogue with La Niña Blanca, a moment in which the believer places into words their faith, their experiences, their suffering, and their hopes.
For this reason, throughout the history of this religious movement, certain figures have acquired a special role: those who composed prayers, led rosaries, organized rituals, and transmitted devotional formulas. They were not simply “writers,” but individuals recognized by the community because of their personal journey and their relationship with the tradition.
A significant example is David Romo Guillén, founder of the Iglesia Católica Tradicional México-Estados Unidos, one of the organizations that attempted to give a more institutional structure to devotion to Santa Muerte.
Romo tried to create a genuine religious organization, with a hierarchy, a liturgy, defined prayers, and established practices. He became, for many devotees, a point of reference because he represented an attempt to transform a popular and fragmented devotion into an organized tradition.
When he was arrested on kidnapping charges in 2011, his absence created a crisis within the movement. With the disappearance of the charismatic leader, others attempted to occupy that space: discussions, divisions, and conflicts emerged over who had the right to represent the tradition, guide devotees, and establish rituals and prayers.
The story of Romo reveals a fundamental reality of the Santa Muerte movement: producing words is not enough to create a tradition. Spiritual authority does not come only from publishing a text, but from personal experience, practice, knowledge, and recognition by the community.
Today we are witnessing a new phenomenon: the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of prayers, novenas, and devotional texts.
AI can be an interesting tool. It can help organize thoughts, improve language, suggest symbolic images, or assist those who want to express something they feel deeply within themselves.
However, there is a great difference between using a tool and completely delegating one’s spirituality to a machine.
Simply entering a title, a generic request, and publishing the result as a “powerful prayer,” perhaps transforming it into a book or a commercial course, raises an important question: Where does devotion end and where does the simple production of commercial content begin?
A prayer created only from an automated request may have an elegant form. It may appear profound. It may use powerful and evocative words. But religious tradition is not based only on appearance.
Within the world of Santa Muerte, a prayer has value because it carries intention, personal experience, and a genuine relationship. Those who write prayers should first understand the responsibility carried by the words they use.
The issue, therefore, is not AI itself. The issue is when a tool is mistaken for a spiritual source.
Santa Muerte does not need new “prophets” created by the digital marketplace, nor does she need improvised “authors” who transform every generated text into a product to sell.
The story of David Romo reminds us of something important: in the world of devotion, authority does not come from possessing a pen, a printing press, or today an algorithm.
It comes from the spiritual journey.
Words can be written by anyone. But a prayer, in order to truly be a prayer, must first be lived.
Guest contributor, Luciano Martucci, is an Italian anthropologist and ethnographer who studies shamanism, folk healing, traditional medicine, and religion in Latin America. He is the author of El Gauchito Gil, de bandido a Santo and “Yo soy del San”: El culto a San La Muerte, and “Devoti Violenti.” Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
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