History The Role of the Catholic Church In the Mexican Revolution Christopher Ohan* o í l C l a i r o t i d E / o c i f á r g o n o c I o v i h c r A Revolutionary leaders saw little use for the Catholic Church despite the fact that it obviously created social stability. ew would deny that one of the parent that the church, even today, olutionary character in an attempt to most pervasive elements of remains the greatest unifying compo - retain its powerful hold over Mexican FMexican society is the Catholic nent in Mexico. society. Church. In fact, in the 300 years be - If the church has occupied such a tween the conquest and the Mex ican prominent place in the social makeup A N INETEENTH -C ENTURY Revolution, church and state were vir - of Mexico, why did it find itself aban - INTRODUCTION tually one and the same. As the church doned by the Revolution? Every revo - spread throughout Mexico, it became lutionary leader from Madero to Calles Before examining the role of the church difficult to encounter a Mex ican who saw little use for the Catholic Church in the Revolution, it is necessary to did not call himself/herself “Catholic.” despite its obvious characteristic of consider Mexico’s leanings toward lib - Witnessing the thousands of pilgrims providing social stability. This study, by eralism in the nineteenth century. who come to the Shrine of Our Lady examining revolutionary attitudes con - Although church and state were one of Guadalupe each day, it seems ap - cerning the church, will show that after in the colonial era, attitudes began to the first decade of the Mexican Rev - change with the French Enlighten ment. * Researcher at the Texas Christian Uni - olution it was not the government but The writings of Vol taire and Rousseau versity Department of History. the church that actually adopted a rev - stimulated the minds of a generation 53 Voices of Mexico • 54 of young aristocrats causing them not people of Mexico, uninvolved in events place of execution, he asked permission only to take up arms against the Spanish in Mexico City, the international wars to say a few words, but this request was crown, but also the church that sup - and American in vasion, beca me aware denied. However, he asked forgiveness ported the crown. Thus, with Inde pen - of and violently reacted to the Reform for any offenses that his soldiers might dence in 1824, the beginnings of anti - Laws only when the sacred aspects of have committed. 5 clericalism took hold. daily life such as charitable activities As liberalism grew in the mid-nine - be came secularized. 3 Therefore, as Obviously, the Mexican people pre - teenth century its followers be came church lands and responsibilities in - ferred the side of the Cristeros, or the increasingly secularly minded. Robert creasingly became secularized under a Catholic fighters to the seemingly bar - Quirk points out that while the church, liberal anticlerical administration, the barous government. Because of wide - with its then-me dieval outlook, saw people of Mexico adopted a clerical spread public support the fighting took the ultimate solution to the social pro - outlook. on characteristics of guerrilla warfare blems in terms of the assurance of eter - Meyer calls the changes by the Mex - where neither side was able to gain the nal salvation and happiness, the liberals ican government in the 1850s and upper hand. viewed the matter of eternal salvation It is out of this turmoil that the as an unfathomable mystery that had young Porfirio Díaz saw an opportuni - no practical bearing on the present. 1 The Reform ty for peace through conciliation. In fact, like their European counter - Laws of 1859 pitted Although Díaz fought for the govern - parts, the Mexican liberals were opti - an unstable state against a ment he recognized that mistic about the future of mankind. Man, stable church, firmly according to them, was perfec tible in grounded in There are no...uprisings of the people this life if he followed his own reason continuous except when attempts are made to and rejected the superstition of the under mine their most deeply held tra - tradition. past. ditions and to diminish their legitimate While the liberals did not control the liberty of conscience. Perse cution of government of Mexico, their influ ence the Church...means war, and such a was formidable. In the 1857 Cons ti - early 1860s a Kulturkampf .4 In other war that the Government can only win tu tion, the moderate-controlled Con - words, Mexico was breaking out of its is against its own people, through the gress placed the first formal limitations colonial church-dominated co coon into humiliating, despotic, costly and dan - on the power of the church. As John the modern world. Like the situation gerous support of the United States. Rutherford points out however, the in the Vendée during the French Rev - Without its religion, Mexico is irretriev - church was defeated and removed olution however, the devout Catholics ably lost. 6 from political power only on paper. 2 It had to be forced into compliance. There was not until the Reform Laws of 1859 are countless episodes of barbarism on Mexico and its church operated that church and state became physical - the part of the government and mar - under this simple philosophy for 35 ly separated. Under the liberal presi - tyrdom on the part of Catholics. The years. Neither the 1857 Constitution dent, Be nito Juárez, the groundwork for account of General Socorro Reyes nor the Reform Laws were repealed the conflict between church and state pro vides an excellent example of the but the government chose to ignore during the Revo lution was laid. latter. most of the restrictions placed on the Displaying striking similarities to church. The battle between church the Revolution, the Reform had a de - He was a straightforward and honorable and state had been rehearsed and post - layed impact on the popular classes of man. In all his public declarations he poned only to re-erupt in the 1920s Mexico. Jean Meyer argues that the was frank and truthful, and when asked when the anticlerical legislation ex - Reform Laws of 1859 pitted an unsta - who had encouraged him to take part in pressed in the 1857 Consti tu tion and ble state against a stable church firmly the revolution, he said, “my conscience embodied in the 1917 Consti tution was grounded in continuous tradition. The commanded me.” On being taken to the enforced. 54 History THE CHURCH and resentment...and your riches and gave Madero cautious support. The ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION you yourselves will be buried. 8 1857 Constitution could be enforced against the church at any time and the The policy of conciliation represented The traditional role of the church in Catholic leadership sought to contin - a modus vivendi for both the liberal po l - terms of good works was being replaced ue the policy of conciliation initiated iticians and the church. Díaz had sat - by a role of increased social action. With by Díaz. isfied the liberals by retaining the anti - the loss of Díaz, the church, under the Madero’s idealistic stance soon con - clerical laws of the 1857 Cons titution. leadership of the archbishop of Mex - vinced Catholics that conciliation would The fact that these laws were not ico City, formed its own political party fail. As stated in his Presi dential Suc - enforced seemed a moot point. The to stand up against the threat posed by cession , Madero felt that the 1857 Con - church, while aware of its precarious those liberals who sought to enforce the s titution contained the essential ingre - position, began a course of reform that anticlerical laws passed 50 years earlier. dients for an effective state. Díaz had included internal reform, administrative Clearly the church had its own pro - ignored its principles and the natural reorganization, impro ved training of the gram to remedy the social ills of Mex - remedy, according to Madero, was mere - clergy and an increase in their number, ly its implementation. In addition, Ma - the mobilization of the laity, the ex - dero believed that the cardinal remedy pansion of the Catholic press and of for the ills of society was education. Catholic education and the re newal Zapata’s ideas Since the church still provided the of the strength of the church in rural for land distribution majority of education in Mexico and areas. seem similar to the church’s abhorred the 1857 Constitution, its The church even began to address desire to improve the plight reaction was not surprising. A letter to the social problems within Mexico. of Mexican workers. the U.S. State Department sums it up De prived of their privileged legal sta - well. tus, the church looked to the masses for support. With the publication of The Catholic support, which had been the Rerum Novarum , the church had one of Madero’s chief assets, and has an open invitation to foster support by ico. Unfortunately, however, its legal materially strengthened his candidacy, ad dressing the problems of the Mex - standing prevented any direct action. would be withdrawn within the next ican workers. 7 The letter from the When the Revolution broke out in few days on account of Mr. Madero’s Bishop of Querétaro to a wealthy gov - 1910, the church was forced to sacri - policies. 10 ernment official clearly demonstrates fice its social programs and concen - the church’s attempt to remedy social trate on it own survival. Although Madero believed in the problems.