Cathedral to reopen today

With some gracious remarks directed toward the Federal District government and the PRD political party of Lopez Obrador, church officials announced that the Metropolitan Cathedral will reopen today after six days of closure. The government and the church agreed on a plan that will provide security for the cathedral without turning it into a "bunker," according to news reports.

La Jornada's account is here.

The Cathedral was ordered closed after a group of protesters burst in to demand that its bells be silenced. The ringing of those bells was apparently disrupting a big political rally outside--a rally called by Lopez Obrador, who continues to insist he is the rightful president of Mexico.

Lopez Obrador and his allies were relatively quick to disavow the disruption of religious services, although some also grumbled that the ringing of the bells may have been done on purpose, to disrupt their event or even to provoke an angry reaction that would make them look bad. Some even went so far as to suggest that the people who burst into the Cathedral were part of the whole plot to discredit them.

The whole episode was an interesting illustration of the delicate balance of power between church and state in Mexico. For much of its history, the Mexican church hierarchy allied itself with the powerful, wealthy rulers of the country, helping to crush rebellious priests like Miguel Hidalgo. The church also opposed the revolution that began in 1910 but this time found itself on the losing side. The government that emerged from the Revolution imposed stiff controls on the church to curb its power and influence--curbs stiff enough to provoke a bloody coda to the Revolution when devout Catholics rose up in an unsuccessful effort to try to overthrow the new regime.

Today, a lot of people left-of-center remain suspicious of the Church, but a lot of people are still devout Catholics. It appears that the PRD was not above stirring up the anti-Church sentiments of some of its followers, but was also leery of appearing to be too extreme in its anti-church stance.

For its part, church officials seemed to enjoy the opportunity to exploit the cathedral incident, but they stopped short of saying or doing anything that would have put them in direct opposition to Lopez Obrador and his followers.

The bottom line: after a lot of huffing and puffing, everything went back to normal.

Cathedral controversy simmers down

The Federal District government and the Catholic archdiocese held closed-door talks aimed at reaching an accord on future security measures to prevent any more political incidents and intrusions into the religious precincts. W Radio has details.

Church officials seem to feel they have the upper hand in this. They want the government to agree to help track down the people responsible for Sunday's incident.

In other news, President Calderon reasserted his determination to defeat the nation's powerful drug cartels. He was speaking at a medal ceremony for members of the armed forces.

"We Mexicans continue to advance in this war against organized crime, until we see our country freed from the claws of criminals," he said. (my translation)

Read it here.

Conversation in the Cathedral II

As El Universal tells it, the Cathedral incident seems to be a perfect catalyst for a favorite Mexican pastime--conspiracy theories.

PRD officials are suggesting that the Cathedral bells were rung on purpose to provoke an angry response that would discredit AMLO's Sunday political meeting. They even go so far as to suggest that those who burst into the Cathedral may have been infiltrators, playing the role that had been assigned to them. One PRD official said he saw a "black hand" at work in the whole affair.

In any event it is clear that the PRD fears that the whole mess will damage its image.

Conversation in the Cathedral

Sunday's incident in the Cathedral seems to be overshadowing Lopez Obrador's convocation outside. (See earlier posts)

Catholic authorities have ordered the Cathedral closed, saying it isn't safe to practice religion in Mexico City. Milenio has second day coverage with a picture of the Cathedral intrusion itself.

Meanwhile, Marcelo Ebrard, the elected head of the federal district, says there is no need to close the cathedral and in any event, the Church can't do it without government approval because the cathedral belongs to the whole country.

Ebrard also endorsed freedom of worship and said people ought to be able to worship without being interrupted.

Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, secretary general of the PRD, Lopez Obrador's political party, said the PRD didn't approve of the cathedral intrusion. He said it was inappropriate to interrupt the worship service of any religion. But he also called for an investigation of the bell-ringing that supposedly provoked the intrusion. He said it was suspicious that the ringing started 15 minutes before the beginning of the noon mass.

The cathedral incident also got big play in El Universal, La Jornada and W Radio.