Mexico's Roman Catholic church announced on Friday it will reopen the cases of at least two independence heroes who were excommunicated in the early 1800s because of their actions against Spain's colonial regime there.The excommunications of Catholic priests Miguel Hidalgo Costilla — considered the father of Mexican independence — and Jose Maria Morelos will be reviewed by a special commission of church historians to determine whether the orders were justified or should be posthumously lifted, the Archdiocese of Mexico said in a statement posted on its Web site.
"The hope is that the commission can find enough evidence to consider the excommunications invalid, and for that reason, void," according to the statement.
The decision by Cardinal Norberto Rivera to reopen the case comes at a time when frictions between the church, anti-clericalists and militant supporters of church-state separation have reached a boiling point.
Earlier this week, Rivera filed a criminal complaint against protesters who allegedly attacked his car as he left Mass at Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral.
It remains to be seen whether pardons for the two priests — and several others who were dealt the same punishment during Mexico's 1810-1821 Independence conflict — would make any difference in today's political climate.
The decision may in part hang on procedural questions, such as whether the acting Bishop who confirmed Hidalgo's excommunication in 1811 had the authority to do so.
Mexico's church hierarchy was highly conservative and pro-Spanish at that time.
The archdiocese also noted that there is a distinction between Hidalgo having been expelled from the priesthood and his having been excommunicated.
The church still discourages priests from becoming involved in politics, but excommunication is far rarer as a punishment.
Finally, the statement said there is evidence that Hidalgo showed repentance for deaths caused by the independence movement, and may have confessed his sins before dying, potentially invalidating any excommunication.
The church said its decision to review the priests' cases came at the urging of a government commission now organizing Mexico's Independence Bicentennial, marking the initial Sept. 16, 1810 uprising Hidalgo led.
He was captured in 1811 and executed by the Spaniards, but the movement he started eventually triumphed in 1821, when Spain withdrew from Mexico after 300 years of colonial domination.
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