The Ideology of Mexico’s Catholic Bishops: Topic Modeling, Text Scaling, and Episcopal Networks, 1976–2026

This study examines ideological variation among Mexico’s Catholic bishops using computational analysis of 2330 documents (1976–2026): topic modeling, Wordfish scaling, and consecration network analysis. Topic modeling recovers nine topics organized around a spiritual emphasis pole (homiletics, pastoral life) and a social engagement pole (social pastoral, Chiapas/indigenous rights). Wordfish’s primary dimension contrasts prophetic/individual voice with institutional/consensus. Liberation theology bishops deviate most from the episcopal conference’s administrative register. Network analysis identifies the apostolic nunciature, through which the Holy See shapes episcopal appointments, as the dominant consecration hub. Regional and temporal variation are substantial but partly reflect source composition effects. A multilevel test that merges Protestant/Evangelical population share with bishops’ actual diocesan assignments, accounting for clustering by bishop and by state, finds that greater Protestant presence predicts more doctrinal and less indigenous rights discourse, closer to the supply side reading of religious economy theory than to its mobilization reading. Ideological differentiation within this hierarchical religious institution appears driven by differences in issue emphasis, and in the balance between charismatic and bureaucratic forms of episcopal authority.