The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-04
History of the Catholic
Church in Mexico
BY MANUEL GOMEZ.

tionaI religion, without liberation
for any other.
2 Absolute independe nee for Mex
leo.
8. Establishment of a monarchleal
form of government, tempered by
a constitution suitable to the coun-
try"
q. Summoning Of Ferdinand VII,
or some member Of his family, or
of some other royal family, to the
throne of Mexico, to reign as en-
peror and establish a dynasty.
S. Establishment of a Junta to
carry on the government until the
meeting of the cortez.
6. Said Junta to rule in virtue of
an oath of allegiance to the king
until the duties of the government
should be assumed by the monarch
in person.
8. That in the event of Ferdinand
VII being unwilling to accept the
throne of Mexico, the Junta to con-
tinue the functions of government
until such time as a suitable ruler
be chosen.
9. The government to support and
maintain the 'three warrantees":
independence, unity, religion, SYM
bolized in the national flag, by the
coIors, red, green and white.
10. Maintenance of the present in
stitution of property.
IA. Endorsement and protection of
all ecclesiastical "fueros,v privileges
and possessions.
In addition to the articles quoted,
there were a number dealing with the
constitution of the army and judi
ciary, but l have sufficiently indicated
the drift of the document. The semi
feudal despotism of church and big
land owners is affirmed as the domi-
nant force of the nation.
The First Mexican Empire.
The church did not succeed in find
ing a European monarch for Mexico.
it gave support to the
aspirations of Iturbide.
On the night of August IS, 1922, the
newborn republic received a mortal
stab in the back. By a well-planned
coup d'etat, Iturbide was suddenly
emperor, and a sergeant of
the army was sent with his company
parading thru the streets of Mexico
City shouting: Long Live Augustin /,
Emperor of Mexico!" Iturbide, the
arch-traitor-who betrayed first his
own Spanish employer, and then the
Mexican republic, which he had helped
to establish-was solemnly crowned
by the representative Of the pope in
Mexico. Shortly thereafter congress
was dissolved.
Turnout the succeeding years the
struggle ragged between liberals and
conservatives-the latter, the party of
the big land owners, being consist
emily supported by the church. Itur-
bide's ephemeral empire had fallen
before the end of 1922, but the strug-
gle against reaction was rooted deep
in the economics Of Mexico's social
system, and could not be ended so
simply.
The Church and ala Reforma."
After the establishment of Mexican
Independence, the next great up
heaval that marked the forward
march of Mexico was the so-called
Ayutla revolution, sometimes known
as the war OF the Reform. Here
again we see the church standing
squarely in the roadway Of progress,
pushing the other way.
Just as Hidalgo is the great hero
of Mexico's independence struggle, 80
Benito Juarez is the hero OF the ga
Reforma," the first modern revolution
to sweep aside the semtfeudal privi-
leges standing in the way OF capital
ism. No other figure In Mexican his
tory, not even Hidalgo. is revered in
the republic south of the Rio Grande
as universally as Jaurez. His statue