New Approaches to Political Catholicism and Women’s Activism in Twentieth-Century Mexico

Abstract

Authors from a transnational research group analyze Catholic women’s political mobilizations, acknowledging Catholic women’s heritage of organization to maintain their religious practice in their communities from the colonial era onward. These activities afforded women opportunities for civic experience and leadership roles that continued through Mexico’s nineteenth-century political and social debates. This special issue focuses on how twentieth-century women developed new approaches to address revolutionary policies and projects, radical mobilizations, technological changes, and transformations within the Church following the Second Vatican Council. The authors argue that Catholic women have continued to envision themselves as political actors within the framework of their religion, expanding goals to transform religious and civic practices.