Death Gets a Makeover

You know the PR flaks are out of control when they get around to "softening" the image of the Grim Reaper. That's the case in Mexico, where members of a group that worship "Santa Muerte" ("Saint of Death") have unveiled a kinder gentler reaper - their version of Buddy Christ:

A small religious group that worships the grim reaper and is fighting for government recognition unveiled a softer image of their so-called Death Saint on Sunday: a woman with a porcelain face, brown, shoulder-length hair and long thin fingers.

Hundreds of worshippers filed into the Santa Muerte sanctuary in downtown Mexico City to see the statue in a flowing golden dress and veil, clutching a rose. She offers another option to followers who have traditionally prayed to figures of a skeleton dressed in a black cloak and carrying a scythe, or in a long flowing white gown.

Why the makeover? Because the group, which had been "registered" with the Mexican government, lost its preferred status in 2005. The Catholic Church, shockingly, is not impressed with the worshipers of death.