ABSTRACT
In appealing to the masses, "Revolutionary Nationalism" constituted the secular church's doctrine. This nebulous ideology heralded the nationalistic tenets of the 1917 Constitution, including overt anti-clericalism, government control over petroleum and other subsoil resources, communal farms for peasants, a strong, interventionist state, and workplace rights. Sectoral leaders along with heads of key ministries—finance, economy, labor, defense, navy, and interior—represented a revolutionary curia. In appealing to the masses, "Revolutionary Nationalism" constituted the secular church's doctrine. In a few of the anti-clerical states, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had even converted places of worship into party headquarters. During the fifty years between 1920 and 1970, trade with the United States accounted for approximately two-thirds of Mexico's international commerce—a figure that obtained in 2009. For much of the twentieth century, Mexico's chief executives presided over the nation in the manner of secular popes who regarded the average citizen as belonging to their flock.
