MEXICO
Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
In Mexico, religious freedom is constitutionally[1] guaranteed, and its exercise is regulated by the Law on Religious Associations and Public Worship (Ley de Asociaciones Religiosas y Culto Público, LARCP).[2]
Article 24 of the Mexican constitution[3] is modelled on Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It states: “Every person has the right to have freedom of ethical convictions, of conscience and of religion, and to have or to adopt, as the case may be, the one of [their] (her) preference. Such freedom includes the right to participate, individually or collectively, in both public and private ceremonies, worship or religious acts of the respective [confession] (cult), [provided these do not constitute felonies or misdemeanours] (as long as they are not a felony or a misdemeanour) punished by law.”[4] Article 1 of the LARCP clarifies, in respect of religious beliefs, that no one is “exempt in any case from compliance with the laws of the country”.[5]
Article 1 of the constitution reiterates these freedoms by stating that all government authorities have an obligation to promote, respect, protect and guarantee human rights.[6] Article 24 adds that “Congress cannot dictate laws that establish or abolish any given religion”.[7]
Article 1 also bans discrimination on grounds of ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disabilities, social position, health, religion, opinions, sexual orientation, marital status or any other factor, that violates human dignity.[8]
The Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (Ley Federal para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación) defines as discriminatory any attempt to limit the free expression of ideas, as well as any action designed to place obstacles in the way of freedom of thought, conscience or religion and of religious practices or customs, provided that the latter do not violate public order.[9] In May 2022, an amendment defined what is meant by discrimination.[10]
For its part, the LARCP regulates various aspects of the life of religious associations, such as their nature, constitution and functioning (Articles 6-10), relations with associates, religious ministers and representatives (Articles 11-15), the property regime (Articles 16-20), religious acts of public worship (Articles 21-24), the relations of the authorities with religious associations and their activity (Articles 25-28), and infringements of the Law and corresponding sanctions (Articles 29-36).[11]
Article 130 of the constitution provides for the separation of Church and State, which is reiterated in Articles 1 and 3 of the LARCP.[12] This principle of separation also extends to public education which, under Article 3,I of the constitution, must “be maintained entirely apart from any religious doctrine”.[13]
To avoid State interference, the authorities are constitutionally banned from intervening in the internal affairs of religious associations (Article 130, b), as well as in individual or collective religious events, except when necessary to guarantee compliance “with the constitution, International Treaties ratified by Mexico and other applicable legislation and the protection of the rights of third parties” (Article 3, LARCP).[14]
Likewise, Federal, State and Municipal officials “may not officially attend any religious act of public worship, or activity that has similar motives or purposes,” except in the exercise of diplomatic obligations. (Article 25, LARCP)[15]
With respect to the independence of the State vis-à-vis religions, Article 24 of the constitution declares: “No person is allowed to use these public acts of religious expression [for] (with) political ends, for campaigning or as a tool of political propaganda.”[16] Article 130 (d) of the constitution bans members of the clergy from holding elected office.[17]
This general prohibition is consistent with Articles 55 (VI) and 58 of the constitution, which exclude members of the clergy from becoming federal deputies or senators.[18] Article 82 (IV) prohibits the President of Mexico from being a minister of religion.[19]
The ban is reiterated by LARCP, according to which members of the clergy cannot hold public office, although “they have the right to vote under the terms of applicable electoral legislation” (Article 14).[20]
Like the constitution (Article 130, e), LARCP (Article 29, X) includes more constitutional prohibitions that affect the separation of Church and State, most notably the ban on members of the clergy from associating with one another for political purposes, engaging in propaganda for or against any candidate, party or political association, or opposing “the laws of the country or its institutions in public meetings”.[21]
Similarly, religious associations and members of the clergy may not own or administer telecommunications concessions, except for printed publications of a religious nature (Article 16, LARCP).[22]
In addition, Article 130 (a) of the constitution specifies that only registered Churches and religious groups have legal personality.[23] Article 7 of LARCP sets out the conditions and requirements that must be met for this purpose, which are as follows: “Anyone applying to register a religious association must prove that the church or religious group: 1. Is involved primarily in the observance, practice, propagation, and teaching of a religious doctrine or body of religious beliefs; 2. has carried out religious activities in the Mexican Republic for a minimum of five (5) years and has well-known roots in the population, in addition to having its domicile in the Republic; 3. has sufficient assets to fulfil its purpose; 4. has statutes in terms of the second paragraph of Article 6; and, 5. has complied, where appropriate, with the provisions of sections I and II of Article 27 of the constitution.”[24]
Once constituted, religious associations have the right to an exclusive name, to establish their internal structures of governance and operation, to celebrate acts of public worship and disseminate their doctrine, and to establish and run welfare, educational and health facilities, provided they are not for profit (Article 9, LARCP).[25]
Article 27 (II) of the constitution also recognises the capacity of validly constituted religious associations to acquire, own or administer property.[26] However, in line with the constitution (Article 130), LARCP (Article 15) denies members of the clergy the right to inherit through the wills of persons whom they “have spiritually directed or assisted and are not relatives up to the fourth-degree”.[27]
Generally, acts of public worship must be carried out in places of worship, or in other places under special circumstances (Article 24 of the constitution and Article 21 of LARCP), on condition of prior communication with the competent authorities at least 15 days before the date they are held.[28] The latter can only ban them “on grounds of safety and protection of health, morality, noise and public order, or to protect the rights of third parties” (Article 22, LARCP).[29]
Special mention should be made of freedom of conscience, which is covered by Article 24 of the constitution, as it applies to healthcare. Article 10 bis[30] of the General Health Law[31] grants medical and nursing staff employed in the National Health Service the right to conscientious objection, adding that conscientious objection cannot be a motive for workplace discrimination.
However, in September 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice[32] struck down Article 10 Bis, ruling it does not establish the necessary limits to ensure that conscientious objection can be exercised without jeopardising the human rights of others, especially the right to health. In light of this, the court urged Congress to regulate conscientious objection.[33]
Incidents and developments
Episodes of violence against priests, religious and institutions of the Catholic Church in Mexico are tracked by the Catholic Multimedia Centre (CCM), which has been compiling data since 1990, and publishing annual reports since 2018. The reports for 2023 and 2024 list the murders of three priests, as well as five cases of aggravated assault. They point to the fact that during the six-year mandate of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 10 priests were murdered,[34] a further 10 were victims of violence and there were around 900 episodes of extortion involving members of the Catholic Church.[35]
In 2023, Fr Javier García, from the parish of Capacho, in Michoacán, was shot dead,[36] while Fr José Angulo Fonseca was murdered in Jalisco, allegedly by his own brother.[37] In February 2023, soon after celebrating Mass in Chiapas, Fr Marcelo Pérez was shot in his car. Fr Marcelo was an indigenous Tzotzil and known for his activism in defence of native peoples.[38] In October 2024, the authorities announced the arrest of the alleged murderer.[39] In January 2023, the pastor of the church of Mount Zion, in Chiapas, was murdered after claiming he was the victim of extortion.[40]
The violence has also affected laypeople. In June 2023, two women catechists were murdered on their way to a Eucharistic Procession.[41] In November 2024, an altar boy and his brother, who helped his mother to clean the church, were killed in a shooting near the parish church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Veracruz.[42] In January 2025, a pilgrim on his way to San Juan de los Lagos was shot dead in the evening while camping.[43] The Mexican Bishops’ Conference asked authorities to investigate and provide security.[44] In March 2025, seven members of a youth group from Guanajuato were murdered by an armed group. The authorities found over 50 cartridge cases, and holes in the walls of the church.[45]
Fr Omar Sotelo, director of the CCM, explained that organised crime has introduced a culture of corruption and death, which in turn leads to social breakdown, and is nurturing a culture of drugs and drug-related violence.[46]
In other incidents of violence during the period under review, a man attempted to stab the Archbishop of Durango, Faustino Armendáriz, after Mass in the sacristy of the cathedral.[47] In response, a citizens’ campaign was organised demanding that authorities strengthen legislation to defend religious freedom.[48] Fr José Filiberto Velásquez – who had denounced conflicts between criminal gangs – was attacked while in his car, which was hit by at least two bullets.[49] An armed gang robbed several cars that were stopped on a highway, due to fog, including one carrying Bishop Eduardo Cervantes Merino of Orizaba, and accompanying priests, who were robbed of their belongings, including the bishop’s ring.[50] Bishop Gonzalo Alonso Calzada Guerrero was robbed, tied up and left on a hillside;[51] armed attackers robbed a house belonging to the Legionaries of Christ, where Bishop Pedro Pablo Elizondo of Cancún lived with some of his priests;[52] and Fr Abraham Hernàndez, from the parish of Christ the Saviour, in the capital, received death threats over failure to pay protection money.[53] The current atmosphere of impunity favours repeated acts of intimidation by criminal organisations against members of the clergy who resist their demands.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) appealed to the government to provide effective security for eleven members of the Jesuit community of Cerocahui, in Chihuahua, on the grounds that they were “in a serious and urgent situation as a result of threats and harassment by organised crime groups”.[54]
Besides assaults against the life and physical integrity of religious and laypeople in the period under review, there were also several cases of vandalism, offences against religious feelings and serious impediments to the exercise of religious freedom. CCM’s report states that over the past six years, attacks against places of worship and desecrations increased to the point where they are at an average of 26 per week.[55]
The Association of Evangelical Pastors denounced the fact that drug traffickers in the State of Chiapas demanded payment of 1500 US dollars a month in protection money to allow churches to stay open.[56] These threats also occurred in the capital.[57] Catholics and Evangelicals both denounced a wave of violence which forced them to close places of worship,[58] and the Evangelical community of Hidalgo State said its leaders were being harassed, forcing them to relocate. Five months later, they returned to their places of origin, thanks to a deal between State and city authorities.[59]
There were several cases of desecration, such as in the parish of St Mary Magdalene, in Kino, Sonora State, where images of saints were destroyed;[60] the Blessed Sacrament was stolen from the chapel of the Lord of the Harvest, in the city of Jiutepec;[61] the church of Santiaguito of Iruapato, in Guanajuato, suffered an arson attack;[62] masked men tied up a priest and robbed the parish of Saint Louis Gonzaga, in Mexico City, taking silver liturgical vessels;[63] in the Incarnate Word parish in Cuidad Frontera, in the State of Coahuila, thieves stole several objects and desecrated the Blessed Sacrament;[64] in the Parish of Saint Felipe de Jesús in the Archdiocese of San Luis Potosí, chalices and ciboria with precious stones and video cameras were stolen;[65] an Evangelical pastor from the United States destroyed an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe with an axe as part of his sermon;[66] and a man entered the Church of the Holy Spirit in Culiacán, Sinaloa, during Mass, destroying several religious images and desecrating the Eucharist.[67]
A man was killed during a conflict between criminal gangs in the village of Santa Anita, in Guachochi, Chihuahua State, and the church was struck by hundreds of bullets, while a priest managed to save three children who were caught in the crossfire;[68] the spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Luis Potosí expressed concern over the constant attacks against churches in the city’s historic centre and the general atmosphere of insecurity;[69] and members of the National Guard entered the Sacred Heart parish in Veracruz during Sunday Mass while chasing an immigrant who had hidden in the church.[70]
As in previous reporting periods, demonstrations on International Women’s Day on 8 March, resulted in acts of vandalism against public and private property, including Catholic churches, which were spray-painted or otherwise damaged in several parts of the country, including in Oaxaca, Durango, Aguascalientes, Monterrey, León and Puebla. In Mexico City, demonstrators lit fires outside the Metropolitan Cathedral and threw fireworks over the fences that had been erected to protect the building.[71]
Evangelical and secularist media denounced harassment by Catholics. In December 2022, a Baptist woman in Hidalgo was tied to a tree and beaten by community leaders who were trying to prevent the Baptists from cultivating their land.[72] An Evangelical church was burned in Oaxaca due to Church authorities refusing the pay a fee relating to a patronal feast, and the community accused the city of denying a permit to rebuild it, on the basis that it was a Catholic-majority area.[73] In Chiapas, a house was set on fire over attempts to build an Evangelical church. The local, mostly indigenous population traditionally practiced Catholicism along with indigenous beliefs but many indigenous people have recently embraced Evangelical faith.[74] At least 500 Evangelicals have been displaced from their village communities in the Oaxaca region after refusing to renounce their faith.[75] Those who convert to non-Catholic Christian confessions say they are subject to attacks and both the police and the army have had to intervene to stem the conflicts.[76] The incidents against Evangelical communities led the Congress of Oaxaca to order local cities to fight intolerance and implement programs to instil respect for religious beliefs.[77]
During the period under review, the nation’s Supreme Court of Justice dealt with cases related to religious freedom. Three complaints were lodged against cities in Yucatán, seeking to prevent the use of public money to pay for nativity scenes, arguing that this violated the principles of a secularist state. The matter generated much discussion.[78] In the end, one of the complainants dropped the suit, and the Court has so far only passed draft judgements on the issue.[79] The Catholic Church took part in the discussion and called for respect for religious freedom.[80] Another controversy arose regarding changes to the content of primary school children’s textbooks, which are distributed free of charge and are aligned with President López Obrador’s “New Mexican School” plan, that includes gender ideology and Marxist socialist principles that many parents disagreed with. There was criticism of the decision to modify the content without the participation or previous consultation of different agents across the educational world, as mandated by the Education Law.[81]
Meanwhile, Mexican courts ruled in favour of the Diocese of Querétaro which rejected the request by a transgender person to have the sex changed on his baptism record “to reflect his pretension of being a woman, rather than a man”. This fact implies the recognition of the autonomy of religious organisations.[82]
The Electoral Court issued a ruling that the figure of “Holy Death”, a picture of a skeleton posing as, and imitating, the image of the Virgin Mary, and considered part of a satanic cult, does not represent a religious symbol, and therefore its use in electoral propaganda does not violate the principle of the secular State.[83] On the other hand, it ruled that statements made by Cardinal Juan Sandoval could have affected the electoral process, and therefore violated Church-State separation. He had said in a video, “If those in power win, communism is coming.”[84]
The Electoral Institute of Tamaulipas issued a reprimand against a priest for breaking the principle of secularism by celebrating a Mass to mark the beginning of the electoral campaign.[85]
In April 2025, the Supreme Court of Justice concluded that the right to freedom of religion is not absolute but is limited by the constitution when it states that it does not cover religious practices that have been listed as crimes. The sentence referred to the case of a priestess from the “Cuban Santería” religion who had lodged a case to try and circumvent practices which are considered harmful to animals.[86]
Regarding the executive branch, in November 2023, then President López Obrador asked to meet with the Bishops’ Conference to discuss the country’s problems.[87] In April 2024, pictures of t-shirts with an image similar to the “holy death” and bearing slogans in support of López Obrador went viral. In his reaction, the President seemed to condone the action as an expression of religious freedom by citizens. The President added that everybody has the right to have, or not have, a religion, and that one must respect believers.[88] The Catholic Church has expressed its concern over the cult of “holy death” and the narco-culture, which it considers drivers of violence and the culture of death.[89] A few days later, the former President accused Cardinal Juan Sandoval of having asked the United States to interfere in the presidential campaign of 2006 to prevent him from gaining power.[90] In October 2024, in her first message after being elected, current President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that her government respects freedom of the press, as well as religious and sexual freedom.[91]
On the other hand, at the request of the Evangelical Network, the Secretariat of Education of Veracruz issued instructions exempting the students from Evangelical families from participating in the Day of the Dead festivities, which are traditional in Mexico, though not among the Evangelical community.[92]
Demonstrations of popular religiosity in the public sphere continue to take place in Mexico. For example, Oaxaca has the celebration of the Day of the Samaritan Woman, during which young women dress up and hand out water from stalls decorated with flowers.[93] Holy Week is traditionally celebrated in several cities in the country. San Luis Potosí and Guerrero are home to the Procession of Silence,[94] and tens of thousands of young people take part in the pilgrimage to the monument of Christ the King in Guanajuato at the end of January[95] during which, in 2024, the theme was religious freedom.[96] The pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe takes place every year around 12 December, and in 2024, more than 12 million people visited on the day.[97]
The Catholic Church plays a significant role at the social and community level. In the face of increasing violence, corruption and impunity, during Easter 2023, the Bishops’ Conference, the Conference of Major Superiors, the Jesuit province, together with a lay association, called for a National Dialogue for Peace to take place at the University of Puebla in September, and issued a proposal to the authorities and to the nation.[98] In 2024, the Church enabled dialogue which resulted in a truce between drug cartels in the state of Guerrero, an area racked by violence.[99] Following the shooting of six migrants by the army in October 2024, the Archdiocese of Mexico expressed its support for the rights of migrants passing through Mexico on their way to the United States, offering them alternative work and education. These actions make the Church a target for criminal organisations involved in human trafficking and other illegal activities.[100]
In March 2025, the Bishops’ Conference expressed its deep concern about the discovery of an extermination camp belonging to a drug cartel where the bodies of around 200 disappeared people had apparently been burned. It offered its services to promote dialogue and cooperation for the rebuilding of the social fabric.[101] The Mexican Bishops’ Conference decried the violence and expressed concern about the existence of organised crime at a social level, and the impunity with which acts of violence are carried out.[102]
Finally, in March 2025, following the discovery of the extermination and training camp for organised crime, the Bishops’ Conference claimed that there were many such sites in the country, adding that “these discoveries bring to light evidence of irresponsible neglect on the part of Government officials” in terms of one of the critical problems facing the country, which is the disappearance of people.[103]
Prospects for freedom of religion
Mexico continues to face a desolate scenario of the killing of clergy and laypeople, as well as assaults, extortion and desecration of houses of worship and of sacred objects, all aggravated by an atmosphere of blatant impunity. Organised crime, narcotics trafficking, land disputes and corruption continue unabated. Other reports have concluded that Mexico is one of the most dangerous places in the world for pastoral work. In the absence of action by the State, in areas dominated by organised crime, religious leaders raise their voices against violence and take on the role of protectors of their communities. This turns them into targets to impose fear and silence on the villagers, which in turn allows criminal groups to continue trafficking guns and drugs. The tension which results in a country which is officially secular, but has a strong religious presence, often surfaces in discussions and in decisions taken at the executive, legislative and judicial levels. Calls for respect for the secularism of the State and the principle of Church-State separation often casts suspicion on any action or decision which recognises people’s spiritual and/or religious dimension. Prospects for the future, already negative, have grown worse following changes in government and in the judicial branch which favour impunity and encourage the audacity of criminals.
Mexicans complain that their right to live in peace and safety has been jeopardised by an unexpected and implicit cooperation, which is difficult to measure, between the activity of criminal gangs and the omission of the government, leading to a spiral of violence that leaves the population bereft of even the most basic human rights, including the right to religious freedom.
Sources
Mexico