Mexico: A Reprieve for the Church

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In even the tiniest, most impoverished towns of Mexico, the Roman Catholic churches are invariably well swept, well appointed and well attended. Yet despite the evident pride Mexicans take in their religion -- 90% of the country's 86 million people are Catholic -- church institutions have been restrained since the 19th century by some of the toughest anticlerical laws anywhere. Restrictions enacted in 1857 dismantled church properties. Sixty years later, after an outbreak of violence by Catholic guerrillas, the government responded with not only more property seizures but the massacre of priests. Through it all, the Catholic Church has maintained its profound social and political influence. Last week legislators bowed to that reality and legalized the status quo by voting to lift the anticlerical policies.

In successive votes, the lower house of Congress overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments legalizing Mexico's religious organizations. The Senate is expected shortly to endorse the measures, and then the changes will go to the states for ratification. Under the changes, which will cover all denominations, churches will once more be entitled to own buildings and property. Members of the clergy will be able to vote and to criticize the government openly. No longer will priests have to hide their religious garb as they walk the streets. And the parochial schools they have run illegally will now be able to offer religious curriculums.

The move is well in keeping with the modernization campaign pursued by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari since his inauguration three years ago. He has sought a reconciliation with the church as part of his effort to encourage political pluralism, while scaling back the appearance of undue influence by his ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. The reforms also serve Salinas' new fiscal laws, which are to be implemented next year. Now even members of the clergy will have to pay income taxes.