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Published: July 12, 2007

Reform package

Church in Mexico demands full religious freedom

In the next several days, the Catholic Church in Mexico will present to Congress a package of constitutional reforms in order to attain “a true religious freedom, without leaving behind the secular state,” said Armando Martínez Gómez, legal representative of the Archdiocese of Mexico City at a July 8 press conference.

Two days later, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference issued a statement supporting the initiative. “When the Church demands religious freedom, it is not asking for a gift, a privilege or a license depending on contingent political situations or on the authorities’ will, but is demanding effective recognition of an inalienable right,” says the bishops’ communiqué.

Martínez Gómez, also president of the Catholic Lawyers Association, pointed out that the only country in the Western Hemisphere with more restrictions on religion than Mexico is Cuba.

Mexico’s restrictions on religion are a remnant of the revolutionary fervor of the 19th century, when Church property was seized and stringent regulations were imposed on religion – particularly the Catholic Church. The result is that today, it is frequently asserted that it is the function of the state is to keep religion confined to the private sphere – the secular State is confused with an anti-religious state.

The first request of the Church in the proposed reform packaged is freedom of religious education: “A genuine educational freedom, which give parents the liberty to decide if they want religious education for their children in public schools or not.”

In addition, the Catholic Church seeks to modify Article 24 of Mexico’s constitution in order to guarantee the clergy’s right to publicly express their political opinions about abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage and other controversial issues related to their ministry without being judicially prosecuted (as was recently the case with Cardinal Norberto Rivera when he dared to publicly contradict the promoters of pro-abortion laws).

Following his July 8 Mass at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Rivera said the time had come to recognize that clergy have political rights and should no longer be considered “pseudo-citizens.”

The Church is also asking that it be allowed to own and operate electronic media to divulgate and promote its evangelization programs and ministries.

The reform package provoked an immediate negative reaction from the political parties that recently legalized abortion and gay marriage in the Federal District, which includes Mexico City. “Since the end of 19th century, Mexico’s government solved its problems with the Church; to change now would represent a very serious fall backwards,” said Javier González, leader of the Party of the Democratic Revolution in the national Assembly.

Others, including well-known historian Lorenzo Meyer, are calling on Mexico’s politicians to “stop the ultra-conservative forces that are trying to eliminate the secular state and return to the 16th century confessional state.”

But the bishops and the Catholic Lawyers Association have begun a vigorous lobbying campaign in the federal Congress, especially with legislators from the National Action Party, the party that now governs Mexico. President Felipe Calderón has been supportive to the idea of adapting Mexico’s constitution to modern times in terms of full religious freedom.

© California Catholic Daily 2007. All Rights Reserved.