Catholics in Mexico oppose proposed online media gag law

(OSV News) -- Mexican Catholics have expressed alarm at a proposal to oversee the online expressions of priests and bishops through a reform of the country's Religious Associations and Public Worship Law.

The proposal in Mexico's lower house of Congress would amend a section of the law regulating religious groups to require religious leaders operating digital media outlets, including social media accounts, to be subject to rules outlined by the Interior Ministry and overseen by the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency.

"They say it's to guarantee 'neutrality' and avoid 'hate speech,' but in reality it's censorship disguised as law," read a petition against the changes on Actívate, a Catholic petition platform.

The petition had gathered more than 11,900 signatures on Nov. 11. "The government cannot decide what can be said about people's faith, values, or morals. Limiting the voice of those who teach and provide spiritual guidance to society is an attack on everyone's freedom," said the petition.

The proposed changes to section 16 of the Religious Associations and Public Worship Law were filed Oct. 28 in the lower house of Congress' Gaceta Parliamentaria. The section prohibits religious groups from owning and operating mass media outlets in Mexico -- a product of the country's previously strict separation of church and state and anti-clerical politics, according to church observers. The Mexican state and the Catholic Church were estranged until the Vatican restored relations with Mexico in 1992.

It's uncertain if the measure will be approved; only one lawmaker, Arturo Ávila of the ruling MORENA party, presented the measure.

Ávila described the bill as updating "the Mexican legal framework to the realities of the 21st century, guaranteeing that religious associations can exercise their freedom of expression in the digital environment responsibly, in a regulated and transparent manner."

The preamble to his proposal continued, "The Mexican State, through inter-institutional coordination, will ensure that the participation of religious communities in digital media strengthens coexistence, cultural diversity, and respect for human rights, without undermining secularism or the neutrality of the public sphere."

The Mexican bishops' conference did not respond to a request for comment. Conference president, Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca, posted a screenshot from the Instagram account, Catholicfluencers, reading, "They say it's to guarantee neutrality and prevent hate speech, but in reality it's censorship disguised as law."