Taking the Popular Side?

Meddling in politics can embarrass a religion. Take, for example, the instance 143 years ago when Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was leading Mexico’s war for independence. Spain, from which Mexico wanted freedom, was especially Catholic, and the Hierarchy sided with it. Four bishops blasted Hidalgo with the top excommunication in the canon, Si quis suadente diabolo, and the archbishop backed them up.

Now, however, Hidalgo is a national hero and Mexico is celebrating the second centennial of his birth this year. Catholic authorities have been challenged to make an official statement on whether the ban still stands, and Catholic writers are trying to explain that since the bishops overlooked certain technicalities, their action was invalid and the excommunication was never really in force.