100 Years Ago in Mexico

July 1926, President Plutarco Elias Calles of Mexico Proclaimed that this warning was to be placed on the doors of all churches.

A fine of 50 pesos and prison for one year for these offenses:

1. All those who ring the bells at this church

2. All who teach their children to pray

3. All houses which have a display of the saints

4. Any display of Christian signs or symbols on their person

in many parts of Mexico, Catholics responded immediately to these and other measures when the anti-Catholic articles of the 1917 Constitution were enforced.  In many towns the local faithful tore down the warnings and chased the government agents out of town. President Calles used the Articles of the Constitution to enact "La Ley Calles" to justify taking control of the churches and create a registry of priests.  In response to this, the Mexican bishops voted on July 11 to suspend all public worship and close the churches. The suspension of the Mass, the first time in 400 years, would take place on August 1.  The bishops acted so as to not surrender episcopal authority and their clergy to the government. 

Prior to July 31 the bishops publicly spoke against the anti-Catholic laws.  They called for amendments to the Constitution and supported all peaceful means of the faithful.  Catholics in central western Mexico stopped attending movies and plays and using public transportation. They boycotted stores and restaurants, and many teachers stopped teaching in secular schools. The boycott collapsed by October 1926, in large part due to lack of support among wealthy Catholics, who were themselves losing money.  The wealthy were generally disliked because of this, and their reputation was worsened when they paid the federal army for protection and called on the police to break the picket lines. The Catholic Bishops defended the boycotts and the numerous petitions which were signed by millions of Catholics.  The Calles government considered the bishop's activism seditious behavior and claimed that he could silence the Church.   In November, Pope Pius XI would write an encyclical, This Unbearable Burden, where he approved and lauded the peaceful means of resistance.   He noted as well that "In spite of the extreme patience exhibited in these circumstances by both the clergy and the laity, an attitude which was the result of the Bishops' exhorting them to moderation in all things, every hope of a return to peace and tranquility was dissipated." 11