Conflicts between the Catholic Church and the Mexican state date back to the second half of the 19th century, but tensions reached a critical point with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution, which was markedly anticlerical.
This constitution paved the way for the religious persecution that took place in Mexico in the 1920s under the regime of President Plutarco Elías Calles, which in turn sparked the Cristero War, with Catholics in various parts of the country taking up arms to defend themselves from government persecution. The conflict produced martyrs such as St. José Sánchez del Río, Jesuit Blessed Miguel Pro, Blessed Anacleto González, and St. Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions, among many more.
Although the Cristero War ended in mid-1929, the persecution lasted several more years. It would not be until 1992 that Mexico’s constitution was reformed and the Law on Religious Associations and Public Worship was promulgated, which recognizes the legal status of the Catholic Church in the country.
The Mexican constitution allows Mexican priests to vote but prohibits ministers of worship from “proselytizing for or against any candidate, party, or political association.”
Given this situation, Valdemar pointed out that “active and partisan” participation in politics is the responsibility of the laity and that it is through “formed laypeople” that “a positive influence can develop for politics that are more ethical and, why not, with Christian values.”
The Mexican priest said the country’s bishops “call for being aware of [the duty to] vote and participate. Likewise, the episcopate provides guidance from a moral perspective on values that are inalienable, such as the family, life from conception to its natural end, religious freedom, the right of parents to educate their children, and the common good, etc.”
“I think that in the dioceses that have organized workshops there can in fact be an influence on the vote,” he noted, although he lamented that “unfortunately there are few dioceses that have worked on” such initiatives.
Given the current political situation, Valdemar thinks that “the Church has failed miserably in the search for and formation of laypeople who will fight to make politics more decent, now so degraded and corrupted, and the formation of Catholic leaders who will make possible the integration of the social doctrine of the Church in public life.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Diego López Colín is a graduate of the Carlos Septién García School of Journalism (Mexico). He has been a correspondent for ACI Prensa in Mexico since 2023.