Scene 4: The Storm of Swords

[A split stage. On one side, a sterile government office where PRESIDENT CALLES reviews documents. On the other, a humble village where MARÍA and FATHER PRO whisper urgently. The GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL stands between both worlds.]

NARRATOR: The year is 1926. The Mexican Revolution has ended, but another battle has begun. President Plutarco Elías Calles, determined to break the power of the Catholic Church, has enacted laws that make it illegal to wear religious clothing in public, to hold Mass, to ring church bells. Priests who defy the law face imprisonment or death. Some choose to flee. Others choose to fight. And some choose to die.

CALLES: (reading aloud) "Article 130. Churches are the property of the state. Foreign clergy are expelled. Mexican clergy must register with the government." (looking up) The Church has been a parasite on Mexico for four hundred years. We will build a modern nation, free from superstition.

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: Excelentísimo, the bishops have announced a strike. They've suspended all public worship rather than comply.

CALLES: (smiling) Good. Let the people see that their priests would rather abandon them than accept the authority of the state. Within a month, they'll forget they ever needed the Church.

[Lights shift to the village side. FATHER PRO, dressed as a common worker, celebrates Mass in a tiny room. MARÍA keeps watch at the window.]

MARÍA: (whispering urgently) Padre, hurry. The soldiers patrol again in ten minutes.

FATHER PRO: (continuing the consecration) This is my body, which will be given up for you... (to the small congregation) Do this in memory of me.

MARÍA: How many Masses is this today, Padre?

FATHER PRO: (with a slight smile) I've lost count. Thirty? Forty? Yesterday I was a plumber. Today I'm a taxi driver. Tomorrow, perhaps a street sweeper. All to bring Christ to His people.

[A CRISTERO SOLDIER enters, rifle in hand.]

CRISTERO SOLDIER: Padre, join us. We've taken to the mountains. We fight for Cristo Rey—Christ the King!

FATHER PRO: (gently) I fight too, my son. But my weapons are bread and wine, not bullets. I do not judge those who take up arms—this government has given you no choice. But my battle is different.

CRISTERO SOLDIER: They will catch you, Padre. They catch everyone eventually.

FATHER PRO: Then they will catch me. And God will decide what happens next.

[Lights shift. The GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL approaches FATHER PRO, who now stands facing a wall, arms outstretched in the form of a cross.]

NARRATOR: On November 23, 1927, Father Miguel Pro was arrested on false charges and sentenced to death without trial. President Calles invited photographers, hoping to frighten other priests into submission.

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: Do you have any last words?

FATHER PRO: (calmly, arms still outstretched) May God have mercy on you. May God bless you. (loud and clear) ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

[Blackout. Sound of gunfire. Then silence.]

NARRATOR: The photographs Calles meant as propaganda became icons of martyrdom. The Cristero War continued for three more years, claiming 90,000 lives. In the end, the Church survived. The persecutions faded. But the memory of those who died "for Christ the King" remains a wound in Mexico's heart—a reminder that faith cannot be legislated away.