Too Traditional? Too Liberal? Catholic Social Thought

With Fr Philip-Neri Reese, OP, LPhil, MDiv, STB, Professor of Philosophy, the Angelicum.

The Holy Rosary

Saturday, the Glorious Mysteries, in Latin with Cardinal Burke.

The Life of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany ~ (1763– 1827) (See Note)

From The Romanian Monarchist

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profession, from 1764 to 1803 he was Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück in the Holy Roman Empire. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, George IV, in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Hanover. Frederick was thrust into the British Army at a very early age and was appointed to high command at the age of thirty, when he was given command of a notoriously ineffectual campaign during the War of the First Coalition, a continental war following the French Revolution. Later, as Commander-in-Chief during the Napoleonic Wars, he oversaw the reorganisation of the British Army, establishing vital structural, administrative and recruiting reforms for which he is credited with having done "more for the army than any one man has done for it in the whole of its history".

Nota Bene ~ When I was a boy, I learned the following nursery rhyme about Prince Frederick on my Hampshirewoman Gran's knee:

Oh, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

When they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down.

And, when my children were little, they were bounced on my knee, just as Gran had done for me.

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy: 4. Augustine and Boethius

With Ralph McInerny (R+I+P), PhD, late Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Centre, & Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies, Notre Dame.

The Recent, Long-Hidden War for Religious Freedom: 9 Facts

The Cristers were NOT fighting for "religious freedom", a heresy condemned in the Syllabus of Errors. They were fighting for the opportunity to work toward a Catholic Confessional State.

From Aleteia

By 

2026 marks the centenary of the start of the “Cristiada,” a little-known Mexican civil war for religious freedom. It produced dozens of martyrs among clergy and laity alike.

Many people are familiar with the Cristero War for religious freedom in Mexico (1926-1929) only indirectly, through its martyrs. Blessed Father Miguel Agustín Pro and St. José Sánchez del Río are the most famous, although dozens have been canonized or beatified. St. Toribio Romo González is celebrated February 25. Even many Mexicans aren’t familiar with this violent chapter in their nation’s history, as for a long time it was omitted from public education.

The year 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the conflict, making it a good moment to review a few key facts.

1Conflict between the Church and the state wasn’t new in Mexico

The Cristero War didn’t come out of nowhere. Since Mexican Independence in 1821, there had been a growing conflict between political leaders — who were liberal, secularist, and often militantly secular — and Catholics, especially the hierarchy. These politicians, such as President Benito Juárez, viewed Catholicism as a retrograde force with undue influence in society and a dangerous connection to European, monarchical forces, including the papacy.

First during the period of “The Reform” (1854-76) and then after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), laws were put in place not only to separate Church and state, but to restrict Catholics’ ability to practice and transmit their faith in public life.

Among other things, the Mexican Constitution of 1917 denied the Church legal recognition, prohibited Catholic schools, expropriated and nationalized Church property, and made religious ceremonies outside a church building illegal. Anyone exercising ministry had to be Mexican by birth, which thus prohibited foreign missionaries. These and other provisions were denounced by the Church, but remained the law of the land, if not always enforced.

2A Mexican National Church was founded to try to separate Catholics from Rome

President Plutarco Elías Calles came to power in 1924. He immediately began to strictly enforce the anticlerical provisions of the 1917 Constitution. Priests were persecuted, religious communities dissolved, and churches were closed or occupied by the army.

Then, in February of 1925, a group reportedly with direct ties to the government entered a church in Mexico City and proclaimed the foundation of a Mexican National Church with no ties to Rome. The apparent reason for this was to separate Mexican Catholics from their ties with the pope (seen as a foreign influence), and to split Catholics and thus weaken them.

3Mexican Catholics tried peaceful means to obtain greater freedom of religion

In March of 1925, a group of Catholics founded the National League of Defense of Religious Liberty (LNDLR). Their goal was “to stop the enemy and reconquer religious liberty and the other freedoms that derive from it.” It sought recognition of the government of the right of “Mexicans to live as Catholics,” a right which “no one in a democratic republic” can question. To achieve this, it would use “the adequate means imposed by the circumstances.”

The organization grew and spread quickly. They publicized their cause, organized boycotts and petitions, and aided those who lost their livelihoods under the new laws. The group also organized a mass petition sent to the Congress requesting changes to the Constitution to eliminate the articles aimed against religion.

4The state hardened its stance with the “Calles Law”

On June 14, 1926, President Calles passed a law, known as the “Ley Calles” — the “Calles Law.” It further enforced the anticlerical provisions of the Constitution with even stricter penalties. 

Clergy were forbidden to criticize the laws, government, or authorities in public or private meetings. Priests and religious were prohibited from wearing any form of distinctive clothing, such as a cassock or Roman collar. It also included provisions that made the National League of Defense of Religious Liberty illegal. Harsh penalties were imposed on any local authorities who didn’t actively enforce the law.

The Mexican bishops’ attempts at a compromise failed, and on July 31, 1926, the bishops suspended all Church liturgical activities to avoid possible violent conflict. In reply, the government shut all the churches, and forcefully repressed Catholic opposition.

5Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical about the persecution of the Church in Mexico

Pope Pius XI, in the encyclical Iniquis afflictisque (November 18, 1926), denounced the “sad and unjust conditions under which the Catholic religion” was suffering in Mexico and the difficulty of finding a solution to “the heavy burden of these great evils.”

The Pope describes in detail the persecution of the Church and praises the “passive resistance” Catholics employed alongside active attempts at dialogue. He praises the Mexican clergy and the faithful for their courage and fidelity, at times even to the point of torture or death.

He had a special mention for the bravery of Catholic youth. “Some of these young men and boys have gladly met death, the rosary in their hands and the name of Christ the King on their lips. Young girls, too, who were imprisoned, were criminally outraged, and these acts were deliberately made public in order to intimidate other young women and to cause them the more easily to fail in their duty toward the Church.”

6The war as such began in August of 1926

Although not yet a formal uprising, violence broke out in August of 1926, when a group of armed faithful took possession of a church in Guadalajara. There was a shootout with federal troops that ended when the besieged rebels in the church ran out of ammunition and surrendered. This was followed by a series of confrontations in various states.

The formal rebellion began on January 1, 1927 in the northern part of the state of Jalisco. The rallying cry of the fighters was “Viva Cristo Rey” — “Long Live Christ the King!” The fighters thus became known as “Cristeros,” and the rebellion, the “Cristiada” or the “Cristero War.”

Soon, the uprising spread to other states, and became more organized. A Catholic historian, Luis Alfonso Orozco, explains that what the Cristeros wanted was simply freedom for the clergy and the ability for the laity “to go to Mass and receive the sacraments.”

It was in November of 1927 that Blessed Father Miguel Agustín Pro was summarily executed on false charges. He extended his arms in the form of a cross and declared “Viva Cristo Rey” as they shot him. Many other Catholic clergy and laity were martyred for their faith.

7Men, women, and children fought for their religious freedom

As in the Mexican Revolution, less than 20 years before the Cristero War, grown men weren’t the only ones involved. Women also played an active role. A few fought as soldiers, and many more were spies, nurses, cooks, etc. In 1927, the Cristeros formed the St. Joan of Arc Brigades, made up of women supporting the cause in seven brigades across the country. 

Young boys also supported the troops. The most famous is St. José Sánchez del Río, captured by government troops on February 6, 1928. He refused to renounce his Catholic faith, and was executed shouting, “Long Live Christ the King! Long Live Our Lady of Guadalupe!”

8The United States government helped negotiate peace

In 1929, after three years of conflict, there had been as many as a quarter of a million deaths, many of them civilians — and reportedly a similar number of refugees who fled to the United States. American Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow drew up agreements, called “Los Arreglos,” which the ambassador himself, Mexican President Portes Gil, two bishops, and the Apostolic Delegate of the Vatican all signed.

Under the agreement, the laws remained on the books, but de facto some of them would not be enforced. This allowed public worship to resume and gave Catholics greater leeway to practice their faith and engage in political action.

9The Cristero War was a turning point in Mexican history

Neither repression nor armed resistance actually ceased completely with Los Arreglos. It took several years for both sides to settle into a new status quo. However, the Cristero War was a turning point for the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in Mexico. Over the decades the repressive laws would be gradually changed and religious freedom would take their place.

John Paul II’s first visit to Mexico in 1979 was emblematic of how far things had come, and how far they still had to go. At that time, it was still illegal for clergy to go out in public wearing clerical garb, and the pope was fined — but then-President José López Portillo paid in his place.

Pictured: Bld Miguel Pro, (top) praying before his execution, & (bottom) his martyrdom