Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish: [ˈnwestra señora de la santa mweɾte]; Spanish for Our Lady of the Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a female deity, and folk saint in Mexican Neopaganism and folk Catholicism. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees. Despite condemnation by leaders of the Catholic Church and more recently evangelical movements, her following has become increasingly prominent since the turn of the 21st century.