1926-1929 · Guadalajara, Mexico
The Cristero War
When Mexico's government tried to eradicate the Catholic Church in the 1920s, tens of thousands of Catholic peasants took up arms, and priests who refused to stop celebrating Mass were hunted down and killed.
Mexico's 1917 constitution contained some of the harshest anti-clerical provisions in the Western world. Churches were declared government property. Religious orders were banned. Clergy could not vote, wear vestments in public, or comment on politics. For years, these laws were loosely enforced. Then President Plutarco Elias Calles decided to enforce them with a vengeance. In 1926, he shut down Catholic schools and convents, expelled foreign priests, and required all clergy to register with the government. The bishops responded by suspending all public worship in Mexico. No Masses, no sacraments, no church doors open. For ordinary Mexican Catholics, mostly poor, mostly rural, this was unbearable. The uprising began in Jalisco and spread across central and western Mexico. Peasant armies shouting "Viva Cristo Rey!" (Long live Christ the King!) fought government forces for three years. The war was brutal on both sides. Government troops hanged suspected Cristeros from telegraph poles and left their bodies as warnings. Cristero forces committed their own atrocities. An estimated 90,000 people died. The government specifically targeted priests. Father Miguel Pro, a Jesuit who had continued saying Mass in secret, was executed by firing squad without trial in 1927. The government photographed his death, intending to intimidate Catholics. Instead, the photos became icons of resistance. The war ended in 1929 through American-brokered negotiations, but the underlying tensions persisted for decades.
Why it matters
The bloodiest Church-state conflict in twentieth-century Latin America, killing approximately 90,000 people and producing numerous martyrs canonized by the Church.
What Happened
President Calles began enforcing Mexico's anti-clerical laws in 1926, shutting down religious schools, expelling foreign clergy, and requiring priests to register with the state. The bishops suspended public worship in protest. Catholic peasants, mainly in western Mexico, took up arms. The Cristero War lasted three years and killed roughly 90,000 people. Government forces executed priests and civilians. The conflict ended with a negotiated settlement in 1929 that left the anti-clerical laws on the books but stopped their enforcement.
Why It Still Matters
The Cristero War is largely unknown outside Mexico, but it was one of the most significant Catholic conflicts of the twentieth century. It raised agonizing questions about whether armed resistance to religious persecution can be justified. The Church has canonized or beatified dozens of Cristero-era martyrs while being careful not to endorse the armed uprising itself. Mexico's anti-clerical laws were not fully repealed until 1992, and the relationship between the Mexican state and the Catholic Church remains complicated.