Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/82

66. Section II of Article 27 of this document provides.

 "The religious institutions, known as churches, irrespective of creed, shall in no case have legal capacity to acquire, hold, or administer real property or loans made upon such real property; all such real property, or loans, as may be at present held by the said religious institutions, either on their own behalf or through third parties, shall vest in the nation, and any one shall have the right to denounce properties so held. Presumptive proof shall be sufficient to declare the denunciation well founded. Places of public worship are the property of the nation, as represented by the federal government, which shall determine which of them shall be continued to be devoted to their present purposes. Episcopal residences, rectories, seminaries, orphan asylums, or collegiate establishments of religious institutions, convents or any other buildings built or designed for the administration, propaganda, or teaching of the tenets of any religious creed, shall forthwith vest, as of full right, directly in the nation, to be used exclusively for the public services of the federation of the states, within their respective jurisdictions. All places of public worship which shall later be erected shall be the property of the nation."

In Article 130 of the new constitution, the following appears:

 "The state legislatures shall have the exclusive power of determining the maximum number of