PaperboyAnon

Father Alberto Medel, coordinator of the theological committee for the college of exorcists of the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico and pastor of Santa María de la Visitación in Tepepan, went to the Coyoacán passport office in Mexico City on November 4 to renew his passport. Staff at the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs told him he could not have his photograph taken while wearing his clerical attire. He refused, arguing that he has the right to dress according to his state of life as a priest so long as his face remains fully visible. After a supervisor was consulted, he was initially photographed in clerical clothing. While waiting for the document, however, another official who did not identify herself stated that the application would not be processed with that photo. She cited an internal regulation prohibiting religious symbols. A police officer stood behind her, which the priest described as intimidating. Medel called the demand discriminatory and a violation of the Mexican Constitution’s guarantees of nondiscrimination and religious freedom. Mexico’s passport rules require an uncovered head and a fully visible face, but they do not ban religious attire. In December 2025 the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ruled that Muslim women may wear hijabs for passport photos when the face remains identifiable, stressing that regulations must be interpreted consistently with freedom of religion and that religious freedom must not be absolutely sacrificed. After the priest’s account circulated, Secretariat head Roberto Velasco Álvarez ordered that the photograph be retaken with Medel in ecclesiastical attire and that the passport be issued. Medel has asked for written instructions to all offices so that no priest or religious faces the same treatment again. Source: EWTN News — Totus Tuus