Mexican Bishop Urges Catholics To Learn, Defend Their Faith To Mark Centenary Of Cristero War

Bishop Sigifredo Noriega Barceló of Zacatecas, Mexico, called on the faithful during an interview published this week to commemorate the centenary of the Cristero War (which began in 1926) to get to know their faith better in order to defend the Church.

In an interview with ACI Prensa published April 21 ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Cristero War, which saw hundreds of thousands of Mexican Catholics martyred for their faith, Bishop Noriega lamented that in the century after these events, many of the country’s faithful no longer hold the solid faith of the Cristeros. The bishop then emphasized that the best way to defend the faith today is to increase knowledge of it and therefore grow in Christ.

“The religious principles that govern our lives are not so solid,” Noriega said, stressing that for this reason the faithful need to strengthen their faith formation.

The bishop noted that the Cristeros would call on today’s faithful to “defend your faith by learning more about it.”

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“History helps us remember what went well and what did not go so well,” he added.

Indeed, the Cristeros executed during the war had such an ardent faith that they were willing to die for it.

One notable Cristero priest, Father Gumersindo Sedano y Palencia, was rounded up and herded into a truck by Mexican troops along with five Cristero soldiers en route to the barracks based in the Ciudad Guzman train station. Along the way, the priest held his rosary and prayed aloud, occasionally shouting exclamations and pious chants with great emotion that chafed his captors.

READ: ‘Viva Cristo Rey’: Father Sedano led the faithful witness of the Cristeros

“Viva Cristo Rey! Viva Santa Maria de Guadalupe! Viva el Papa! Sacred Heart, you will reign! Mexico will always be yours!” Sedano cried out.

The more he cheered, the more he irritated the soldiers, who attempted to silence him. But the more they tried, the louder he yelled. Eventually, after arriving at the train station, a Captain Urbina ordered Fr. Sedano to “Shut up,” which he refused to do.

“As long as I’m alive, I will not stop shouting,” the priest responded, adding, “Viva Cristo Rey!”

Urbina became so enraged that he shot Sedano as he murmured, “Viva Cristo Rey, Viva Cristo Rey, Viva Cristo Rey!” Sedano and his five companions, who were also executed, were brutally hung postmortem to discourage other Cristeros.

Bishop Noriega further underscored that similar wars over the religious freedom of Catholics will be prevented in the future if the faithful learn their faith and how to defend it before a war becomes necessary.

“It will no longer be necessary to take up any kind of weapon to defend religious freedom, to defend the principles and values that define us,” he said.