text: Yes. It was never really the Church's fault how things turned out in all Latin America. Secularism prevailed from the beginning as Spanish and Portuguese "Conquistadors" did not come to America to colonize but rather plunder. Catholic Priests were brought along  to "convert the heathens" but had zero power and little real influence over  those mostly aristocratic plunderers. Even today modern Mexico is a very racist society - only the descendants of the "Dons",  Europeans, are the rich and the politicians.  It is the Indian and mixed peasant poor who are fleeing to the USA. The reverse situation would be if African-Americans were still basically under segregation laws and the only answer they saw was emigration to somewhere else. Yes, a few do and have in the past - but never in the millions and certainly not now. People here might be interested in looking up Bartolome de las Casas and the Vallalodid debate and it's aftermath.