La ciudadanía católica en México

The article traces the effects on Mexican Catholicism of the encyclical Immortale Dei, proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. In comparison with the multiple studies about the impact of the encyclical Rerum Novarum in Mexico, the attention paid to the Immortale Dei has been practically nil up to now. This research analyzes the relevance of this document in the context of the leonine pontificate. Likewise, the article identifies how the notion of a Catholic citizenship, the main component of the Immortale Dei, was configured in 19th century Mexico. Through this encyclical, the research establishes the relationship and the differences between the Catholics of the 19th century, politically ruined after the fall of the Second Empire, and the strong social and political activism that characterized the laity of 20th-century faced with the ideological preemi­nence of liberalism and revolutionary anti-clericalism.