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Content: The constitutional restriction
        on ecclesiastical political participation enabled the state to limit the
        activities of a powerful competitor. It also permitted the Roman
        Catholic Church to sidestep controversial political issues and to
        concentrate on rebuilding its ecclesiastical structure and presence
        throughout the country. By the early 1980s, however, this unspoken consensus supporting the
        legal status quo had eroded. The Roman Catholic Church regarded the
        constitution's anticlerical provisions, especially those governing
        ecclesiastical political activity, as anachronistic. It demanded the
        right to play a much more visible role in national affairs. At the same
        time, the church became increasingly outspoken in its criticism of
        government corruption. The Mexican bishops' Global Pastoral Plan for
        1980-1982, for example, contained a highly critical assessment of the
        Mexican political system. According to the Roman Catholic hierarchy,
        democracy existed only in theory in Mexico. The ruling PRI monopolized
        power, producing apathy and frustration among citizens and judicial
        corruption. The principal worker and peasant unions were subject to
        political control.