Although it may seem hard to believe, in the 20th century Mexico gave birth to a religious institution that competed head-on against the authority of the Pope in Rome. It’s about the Mexican Apostolic Catholic Orthodox Church either Mexican Apostolic Catholic Church.
The movement was a secondary consequence of the Independence of Mexico, after which the successive Mexican governments entered into diplomatic uncertainty with the Vatican. For his position, the Mexican clergy became polarized and there were factions with different positions.
Among the demands of the Mexican clergy was the desire to return to the apostolic sources and the reinsertion of the Mozarabic rite to the liturgies. The response movement was led by José Joaquín Pérez Budar.
a mexican church
Jose Joaquin Perez Budar He was born in 1851 in the city of Oaxaca, the cradle of liberal movements. During his youth he supported Porfirio Díaz, after which he was appointed colonel of the army. He got married at the age of 22, but was immediately widowed, for which decided to enter the seminary in 1881.
Pérez Budar was in constant conflict with other clergymen and civil authorities from the beginning of his career. He joined Freemasonry and became friends with the Protestant leaders promoted during the Juarista period.
Although the Roman Catholic Church imposed various sanctions on Pérez Budar, he continued to have a schismatic attitude. During the Mexican Revolution, he was a supporter of Venustiano Carranza.
After being transferred to Iztapalapa, Pérez Budar became radicalized. On February 21, 1925, he met with his union supporters in the La Merced neighborhood to take the Church of Solitude. Although he did not achieve his goal, he proclaimed the foundation of the “Mexican Apostolic Catholic Church”.
A year later, the Cristero War broke out as a war between the government of the president Plutarco Elias Calles and the Roman Catholic Church. Contrary to what has been stated, Elías Calles did not undertake a repression against religion, but specifically against clerical power.
I know those people who have come to shout “Live Christ the King”, [no] They do it because they know who Christ was, but because they have been advised in the parish […]. I recommend to those who are screaming ” Live Christ the King!” [que] Say, to those who advised you from the pulpit, that we will find ourselves in the field of struggle and that we will defeat them again as we have always defeated them! […]! We have not been fighting any religion; As revolutionaries we have fought against the clergy themselves, because all beliefs and all opinions are respected. They attack me because they know they could never bribe me, because they understand, and they understand well, that I know how to fight as a revolutionary for the betterment of the helpless, against their greatest enemies: capitalism, landlords, and the clergy.”
Plutarco Elias Calles, 1923.
a nationalist project
Religious diversity benefited the government’s crusade, which is why the alternative founded by Pérez Budar was quickly recognized. For his part, the Roman clergy responded by excommunicating Pérez and his parishioners.
Among the main features of the Mexican Apostolic Catholic Church were:
- Freedom of interpretation of the Bible.
- Liturgy exclusively in Spanish.
- Abolition of celibacy.
- Free activities with exclusively volunteers
- The priests had to have a civil job, they could not live on alms donated by the faithful.
- Veneration of the saints and the Virgin Mary.
The Mexican church presented itself as a popular movement and a voice for the humble. Faced with Roman Catholicism, she expressed her desire to “to stop the bleeding of millions of pesos that Mexican Catholics annually remitted to the Vatican; so that Mexican priests have the right to govern their own Church and are not displaced by foreign priests from the best temples; to establish unrestricted respect for Mexican laws and the Constitution of 1917.”
On February 22, 1925, the Mexican church attempted to hold its first mass. Although the church was packed, infiltrated Roman faithful tried to lynch Father Manuel Luis Monge, in charge of officiating the liturgy.
The next day, the government of Elías Calles gave the order to protect Mexican CatholicsHowever, a mob of people loyal to Rome demonstrated. The altercation had to be dispersed with water from the fire trucks.
End of the Mexican Catholic Church
In the following months the Mexican church continued to gain followers. Even top sectors of the Regional Mexican Workers Confederation (CROM), such as Luis N Morones They spoke in favour. The post-revolutionary social leaders had a marked nationalist identity, which is why they saw in Pérez Budar’s company an act of justice and emancipation from Rome.
‘Mexican independence was halfway done, on February 21, 1925, José Joaquín Pérez and a group of patriotic priests came to complete it’they were saying
Finally, Plutarco Elias Calles He intervened directly in the conflict between the Romans and the Mexicans; he expropriated the Church of La Soledad de La Merced and turned it into a library. Mexican Catholics were granted the Corpus Christi Church, located in front of the Hemiciclo a Juárez in Mexico City. With this, Pérez Budar became the patriarch of the Mexican Orthodox Church and said property the Holy See of him. The church only temporarily attracted some faithful and priests. In Tabasco, it was sponsored by the enemy of God, Tomás Garrido.
With the end of the Cristero War, the a conciliation process between the State and the Roman Catholic Church. Pérez Budar died in 1931, he reconciled with Roman Catholicism, and the Mexican church weakened. In 1930, the Church of La Soledad returned to be under the guardianship of the Vatican.
I abjure all the errors I have fallen into, be it against the holy faith, be it against the legitimate authorities of the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, the only true one. I repent of all my sins, and I ask the forgiveness of God, my prelates and all those whom I have scandalized with my mistakes and my conduct. I protest that I want to die in the bosom of the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, trusting in the goodness of Jesus Christ our Lord, and of my loving mother, the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe; I believe everything that the Holy Church itself teaches us, and I urge everyone not to stray from it, because it is the only ark of salvation. Mexico, October 6, 1931.“
Declaration of José Joaquín Perez Budar.
After the death of Pérez Budar, Jose Eduardo Davila he became the first Mexican pope under the name of Eduardo I. During the conclave the schismatics exclaimed: Habemus pontificem… electus est pontifex maximus Eduardus Dávila qui assumit nomen Eduardus Primus.
The pontificate of Eduardo I has been little studied, for some it was simply nonsense. Some time later, Eduardo stopped calling himself Pope and over time his church disappeared.
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