While many adherents to Spiritism consider themselves Catholic, the Church (Pope Pius IX's benevelent countenance, pictured right, notwithstanding) does not approve of Spiritism.

Unlike Protestants, who forthrightly reject the authority of the Vatican, as well as various aspects of Catholic doctrine, Kardec and other Spiritists, including Madero in his Spiritist Manual, take pains to appeal to Catholics, positioning Spiritism not as a new religion, per se, but a more like modern, scientifically-advanced, complement. (That said, Madero does directly attack the Church's understanding of divinity, sin, and natural law.)

To the Catholic Church, however, séances are dangerous if not diabolical, reincarnation is not accepted, and Jesus was more than one of the several "divine missionaries"; he was the Savior. As early as 1864, Pope Pius IX slapped all of Allen Kardec's works on the Index, the Vatican's list of prohibited books.[1]

As for Spiritism in Mexico today, because of their webpage, I am aware of the Centro de Enseñanza Espírita Allen Kardec in Mexico City; apart from that, I can only offer my impressions and they are that Spiritism, as formalized by Allen Kardec, has a relatively more important following in Brazil, while in Mexico, it has interlaced and/or dissolved into a melange of traditions, both indigenous and of European and American and even African and of course, Caribbean origin. (I suppose I should include Reiki, a Japanese healing modality, popular especially in Tepoztlan, Morelos, wherein the healer, his hands hovering above the client's body, draws in energy from the universe and sends it into the client's body; meanwhile, he may receive advice about the healing process from "spirit guides" who show up to assist.) There are also some Mexican traditions of more modern origin, such as the worship of Juan Soldado or, La Santa Muerte, but I know little about these. Mexico has such astoundingly diverse regions and so many ethnic groups that I would hesitate to make, or take seriously, any generalizations about anything (and this a point I make in my anthology Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion). But here's another generalization: As of 2011, because very few Mexican Spiritists and/ or Mexican Spiritist organizations have a presence on the Internet, from a chair in front of a computer, it is no easy task to find out about them.

As for Teresa Urrea "La Santa de Caborca" (1873-1906), she was born in the north of Mexico, the illegitimate daughter of a well-to-do rancher named Tomás Urrea and one of his workers, a teenager named Cayetana Chávez. After being abandoned by her mother, Teresa's father brought her into his household where, it so happened, she was trained in the healing arts by an indigenous servant and curandera named Huila.When Teresa's psychic and healing powers became known, some members of a Spiritist circle visited her in 1889, first declaring her insane, and again in 1890, after which they made her their honorary president. She was also associated with a confirmed Spiritist named Lauro Aguirre (b.1857), a surveyor trained in Mexico City's Colegio Militar. Though soon known to Spiritists throughout Mexico and as far as Europe and Puerto Rico, Teresa cannot properly be considered one of their ranks for, according to historian Paul Vanderwood, "she could not adhere wholly to [Spiritism's] tenets," which "denied the 'celestial court,' the divinity of Jesus and the concept of the Trinity."[2] Teresa attracted a massive following, some of whom began to call her "La Santa de Caborca" (the Saint of Caborca), raising the ire of the Catholic authorities. She always lived very simply and never took money for her services. After she and her father were involved in a revolt against the dictator Porifio Díaz, they had to leave Mexico for Arizona, where she died of consumption at the age of 33 in 1906. Teresa's fame was rekindled when her great-nephew, Luis Alberto Urrea, wrote a best-selling novel, The Hummingbird's Daughter, based on her life.

Apart from Madero himself—and also in a distinctly more rustic vein—El Niño Fidencio is considered Mexico's best known Spiritist, though it would more accurate to say that he was associated with Spiritism. Born José Fidencio Sintora Constantino in 1898 in a village in the state of Guanjuato, he was orphaned as a child and later moved moved north to the state Nuevo Léon, where he workered on a ranch in remote Espinazo. Known as El Niño or "child," because of his high-pitched voice and sweet, playful nature, Fidencio was taken under wing by a German-born Spiritist named Teodoro von Wernich, who recognized and encouraged his development as a healer. As news of El Niño Fidencio's healing powers spread, and in particular, his abilties to remove tumors, increasing numbers of people arrived in Espinazo, so many that the place became a vertitable camp city. The apogee of Fidencio's career came in 1928, President Plutarco Elías Calles, who sought a healing for a skin ailment, pulled into Espinazo on his private train. Although El Niño Fidencio died in 1938, his following, both of white-robed materias or mediums who serve as cajitas, little boxes, for Fidencio's spirit's healing powers, and of those who seek healing from them; from a dip in the mud pool at Espinazo; and/or by praying to El Niño Fidencio, has grown to prodigious proportions. Though officially the Church does not approve of Spiritism, nor of Fidencismo, in practice, many Mexican Catholic clergy show tolerance, that the sheep may not leave the corral altogether. Many Fidencistas consider themselves Catholics and for them, with the Vatican's seal of approval or not, Niño Fidencio is a saint. Throughout the north of Mexico and in U.S. Chicano communities, it is not uncommon to see candles, pictures, and even elaborate altars to El Niño Fidencio, right alongside those to Jesus, San Judas Tadeo (St. Jude Thaddeus), and, of course, Mexico's patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe.

"Niño Fidencio: De Roma a Espinazo", (Niño Fidencio: From Rome to Espinazo), a fascinating documentary by Juan Farré, can be seen in its entirely, with English subtitles, at this link. For anyone interested in contemporary Mexican Spiritism, this is a must-see, but even for those who are not, it provides a glimpse into the complexity and strangeness of Mexico, as well as the erosion of the authority of the Catholic Church. The end of the film shows rare footage of Niño Fidencio being rolled over the top of a mosh pit and then, from on high, as a method of healing, pitching fruit at his followers.[3]