The Sentinel=record., 1914-07-28
GOVERNOR OF NUEVo LEON ISSUES DEGREE AGAINST THE
 CATHOLIC CHURCH.
ITS SCOPE IS RESTRICTED
Large Number of Priests Are Ban. ished and Rigid Rules Laid Down For Worship by Those Who Are Permitted to Remain.

Tampico, July 27 (Via Laredo, July 27)--A decree limiting the scope of the Roman Catholic church in the state of Nuevo Leon on the ground of public health, morality and jus tice,' was issued today by Antonio I. Villareal, governor and military com. mander. He said:
 During the life of the nation the church has been a pernicious factor in disruption and discord and has en- tirely forgotten it's spiritual mission"
 The most drastic feature of the de- cree is the prohibition of confession. Villareal gives as his reason for this the charge that the confessional and the sacristy in Mexico have become menace to morality.
 The decree issued in Monterey makes the following orders for gov ernment of Catholic schools and churches:
 '1. All foreign Catholic priests and Jesuits of whatever nationality will be expelled from the state of Nuevo Leon.
 "2. Of the remaining Catholic priests those who cannot prove their complete abstenson from politics will be expelled.
 s. Churches will remain open daily from in the morning until in the afternoon. Only priests hav- ing permission to do so will be per mitted to officiate.
 A. Confession is prohibited.
 "5. The public is prohibited from entering the sacristy.
 "6. Church bells shall ring only to celebrate fiestas, in honor of Che country, or for triumphs of the arms of the constitutionalists
 "7. All Catholic colleges shall be, closed which do not obey programs and texts ordered by officials and which do not have at their head some professor who is a graduate of the normal schools of the country, who will be responsible to the government for any infraction of the rules.
 "S. Any infraction of these laws will be punished by fine of one hundred to five hundred dollars, and arrest and Imprisonment from two to four months, or both fine and impris- onment. In the event of a second of fense the school will be closed"
 Explaining the grounds for this ac- tion, Villareaps decree reads:
 "Tn the interest of public health. morality and justice, the state of Nuevo Leon will limit the scope of the Catholic church, which during it's life had entirely forgotten it's spiritual mission, it's sole right to be recognized by modern society The church has consecrated itself prinei, pally to conquest in politics. To se- cure it's object it always has been allied with the reactionary govern ment. It has showed itself an i'm placable enemy to the liberal move ment and progress from the first rev olution of Ayutla until the present time, and has illuminated it's ridicu. lous communications over the most grand and glorious benefactors of the country, Hidalgo, Juarez and Lerdo de Teiada.
 "The pictorial and clerical rulings of Porfirio Diaz and Huerta. against which the Mexican people have been struggling heroicaly for many years, have had the sympathy and assist. ance of the Mexican church, the ! church has had it's benedictions for the crimes and corruptions of Huerta and has unsuccessfully worked to in- cite the public against the constitu tionalist cause"
 Villareal then criticised some oi the ceremonials of the church, a'leg ing that in Mexico they have tended toward weakening of moral charac- ter. He then criticised the colleges, 1 saying:
 "The ardent soul of youth is trained as an instrument for the am bioitnos of the clericals, which in a different surrounding would have
 been perhaps apostles of liberal ant progress. It is wise to close the clerical schools for the present and
 the future It is a supreme national
 necessity to stamp out at the root the arrogant abuses of the Catholic church and remove the grave danger