Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 7, 1915

File No. 812.404/58.

Special Agent Silliman to the Secretary of State.

[Extract.]

Mexico, January 30, 1915.

Sir: On receipt of the Department’s cablegram of January 14 requesting me to report on outrages upon nuns and priests and desecration of churches, * * * I called at the Archbishop’s palace. * * * Monseigneur Paredes said that he would be pleased to prepare an official statement for me, giving the information desired by the Secretary of State. * * * I called on January 22 and was given a signed communication, of which the document enclosed herewith is an exact copy; it is accompanied by a translation prepared in my office. * * *

I have [etc.]

John R. Silliman.

[Inclosure—Summary.]

[Untitled]

[The statement by Monseñor Antonio J. Paredes, Vicar General of Mexico, representing and acting for the Archbishop of Mexico in the Archbishop’s absence from the country, declares:]

That between August 15 and November 26, 1914, thirty-two priests were arrested and held for periods varying from two to sixty days; ten of these were exiled.

That the Zapatista General Francisco Pacheco shot two priests: Conrado Navarro and Rosalio Zepeda.

That another Zapatista, General Everardo González, hung up and beat a priest named Domitilo Monroy.

“As to violations of nuns, I am certain that none within the Archbishopric has suffered an attack upon her modesty, and I have been unable to confirm the rumor that violated nuns have arrived at this capital from other places. Inasmuch as all religious affairs come to this office, of which I am in charge, I consider the above rumors entirely false.”

Five attacks upon church property are specified, one of which involved the imprisonment of four sisters.

Only one profanation of a church had been reported; none in the capital; all churches in the State of Mexico had been closed from August. 10 to November 30 by order of the Governor, except for mass on Sunday.

None of the Governors in the City of Mexico had demanded loans or contributions from the Catholic Church.]