The Most Reverend Pascual Díaz y Barreto, SJ (June 22, 1876 – May 19, 1936) was a Mexican

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, who served as

Archbishop of Mexico City The Archdiocese of Mexico ( la, Archidioecesis Mexicanensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that is situated in Mexico City, Mexico. It was erected as a diocese on 2 September 1530 and elevated to ...

from June 22, 1929 until his death in 1936. Throughout his tenure, he frequently came into conflict with the

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestantism, Protestant states, ...

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...

Biography

Born in

Zapopan, Jalisco Zapopan () is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, the population of Zapopan city proper makes it the second largest city in the state, very close behind the population of G ...

, to a family of pure

Huichol The Huichol or Wixárika are an indigenous people of Mexico and the United States living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, as well as in the United States in the states of California, ...

Indians, Pascual Díaz y Barreto was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood in 1896 and incardinated into the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, more commonly known as the Jesuits, on October 9, 1903. On December 11, 1922, he was appointed the sixth Bishop of Tabasco by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

. Díaz received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

on February 2, 1923 from Bishop Maximino Ruiz y Flores, and was installed as

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

's ordinary on the following February 28. In 1927, he was sent into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

for carrying out his ministry in a manner which violated the country's Constitution. Díaz was later named

on June 25, 1929, as a signal of peace following Pope Pius's sanction of the plan of settlement to end the feud between the Mexican Church and the State. In late December 1930, the Archbishop issued a scathing denunciation of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in Mexico, claiming, "There is solid ground for believing that

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n Protestant sects, moved by political motives, seek to aggravate religious perturbation in Mexico...The names Protestant,

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

fall on Mexicans as a species of stigma because of the marked character of the North American dominion all these Protestants bring to Mexico. Hence the popular opinion that Protestantism is one of the elements upon which a powerful neighboring nation counts to effect slowly but surely domination, hegemony or realization of its

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

in our land". A year later, he condemned a bill that would prohibit religions from being represented in Mexico by more than one clergyman per 50,000 as "an unheard of outrage of the public power against religion".TIME Magazine
Law or No Law?
January 11, 1932 He stated, "It does not merit the name of law...it opposes the positive dispositions of God and the teachings of the Church, the authentic and infallible organ established by Jesus Christ our Lord..." Díaz unsuccessfully urged

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Pascual Ortiz Rubio Pascual Ortiz Rubio (; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a first Mexican President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was one of three Mexican presidents to serve out the six-year term (1928–1934) of assassinated president-elect Álvaro O ...

towards a

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

, and, despite the large number of Catholic priests in Mexico, ordered the clergy under his jurisdiction to remain in their posts. Archbishop Díaz rejected the claim of

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...

that the Mexican episcopate were "organizing in preparation for a movement," or revolution, saying that Catholics are obliged "to preserve the immutable principles of justice and morality". He later threatened Calles, as well as

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

employees, parents who sent their children to government-operated schools and the children themselves, the teachers of those schools, and any other Catholic who supported the government with

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

in 1935. However, no such excommunication was pronounced, and Díaz pardoned in advance those government employees who kept their occupations because they could not find work otherwise and those parents who sent their children to proscribed schools under pressure from the

truant Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorised, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will (though sometimes adults or parents will allow and/or ignore it) and usually does not refe ...

officer. Later that year, in March, he was arrested by traffic police to leave his car and enter theirs, kept sitting parked in a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

for over two hours, and then taken to a

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...

where he sat all night; according to the Archbishop's

private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in t ...

, he subsequently suffered "from severe cramps and head pains". Although he agreed to a fine of 100

peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the Dollar sign, same sign, "$", as many currencies na ...

s as well, he did not pay. In 1936, the primate published a

pastoral letter A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumst ...

enforcing the Church's stance against

Socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. In it he described Catholics who practiced, studied, or taught Socialism as guilty of

mortal sin A mortal sin ( la, peccatum mortale), in Catholic theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to ...

, and said, "No Catholic can be a Socialist, understanding by Socialism the

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

social system In sociology, a social system is the patterned network of relationships constituting a coherent whole that exist between individuals, groups, and institutions. It is the formal structure of role and status that can form in a small, stable group. ...

which, in one form or another, does not recognize the rights of God and the Church, nor the natural right of every man to possess the goods he has acquired..." Archbishop Díaz died from

colitis Colitis is swelling or inflammation of the large intestine ( colon). Colitis may be acute and self-limited or long-term. It broadly fits into the category of digestive diseases. In a medical context, the label ''colitis'' (without qualification) ...

TIME Magazine
Milestones
June 1, 1936 in Mexico City, at the age of 59.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz y Barreto, Pascual 1876 births 1936 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Mexico Roman Catholic archbishops of Mexico (city) Roman Catholic bishops of Tabasco Mexican Jesuits People from Zapopan, Jalisco Indigenous Mexicans Huichol Jesuit archbishops