ZACATECAS, Mexico (EWTN News) – As part of the commemoration of the centenary of Mexico’s Cristero War, the bishop of Zacatecas, Sigifredo Noriega Barceló, urged the faithful to deepen their knowledge of their Catholic faith in order to know how to defend it. The Cristero War, also known as the “Cristiada,” was an armed conflict that erupted in 1926 after President Plutarco Elías Calles tightened the enforcement of the anticlerical articles contained in the 1917 constitution. According to the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, there were “more than 200,000 martyrs who gave their lives defending their faith.” In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Noriega explained that the Catholic Church is currently engaged in a “plan to recover the memory” of the war, with the aim of reflecting on “the significance” of the Cristiada “at that time, and the implications it holds for our own time.” He lamented that, for many Catholics today, it appears that “the religious principles governing our lives are not as solid.” Noriega said the call that those who defended the Catholic religion at that time would make today is “defend your faith by knowing it better.” Catholics should reflect on how to prevent history from repeating itself so that “it will no longer be necessary to take up any kind of arms to defend religious freedom.”