ABSTRACT
The objective of the 1992 amendments to the Constitution of 1917 was to eliminate the anti-clerical character of the 1917 Constitution, particularly concerning the juridical recognition of churches and religious associations. The key to understanding the weak institutional control of the Catholic Church in Mexico and the rest of Latin America is the endemic scarcity of priests, a fact that also accounts for the strength of popular religions and the shapes religiosity adopts in the region. Many bishops assumed that the secularization of the state was the result of the lack of participation of Catholics as such in the political life of the country. Article 130 recognized as legal entities churches and eliminated the prohibition on ministers of religion criticizing government authorities or fundamental laws of the country during a public meeting. According to recent surveys, roughly two-thirds of the population believes that the church has considerable; they trust more in the church than in other social or political institutions.
