Cristero War

The Cristero War was an armed conflict in Mexico from 1926 to 1929 between the federal government and Catholic rebels resisting restrictions on religious practice.

Mexican Constitution of 1917: Mexico’s postrevolutionary constitution, which included limits on religious institutions and clergy. Its religious provisions supplied the legal basis for restrictions that helped provoke the uprising.
Cristeros: Catholic insurgents who fought the Mexican government during the Cristero War. Their decentralized armed resistance gave the conflict its name and military character.
Enrique Gorostieta: A former Mexican general who became the principal military commander of the Cristero forces. His appointment helped turn scattered rebel bands into a more coordinated insurgency.
Jalisco: A western Mexican state whose capital is Guadalajara. The state was a major center of Cristero support and fighting.
Religious freedom in Mexico: The legal and social ability to practice, change, or reject religion in Mexico. The war’s settlement restored public worship but did not immediately resolve the legal limits on religious institutions.
Calles Law: A 1926 Mexican law imposing penalties for violations of constitutional restrictions on clergy and religious institutions. Its enforcement sharply escalated the dispute between the government and Catholic leaders.
Mexican Federal Army: The armed forces of Mexico’s federal government, responsible for suppressing the Cristero rebellion. Its campaigns confronted insurgents across central and western Mexico.
José Reyes Vega: A Mexican Catholic priest and Cristero commander who took part in the armed rebellion. He exemplifies clergy who joined the insurgency rather than limiting themselves to pastoral roles.
Colima: A small state on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Its rural communities were among the western regions affected by the rebellion.
Mexican secularism: The political principle that state institutions and public authority should remain independent of religious institutions. The postwar government retained a secular constitutional framework despite easing enforcement.

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