King Philip II ordered the creation of Inquisition tribunals in Spain’s American viceroyalties, expanding the Spanish Inquisition beyond Europe. This decision laid the groundwork for a permanent Holy Office tribunal in Mexico City with authority over much of New Spain (and related territories).
Pedro Moya de Contreras arrived as the first inquisitor and helped organize the new tribunal’s staff, procedures, and local authority. His leadership connected the Mexico City tribunal to the wider Spanish Inquisition system and signaled that inquisitorial prosecution would be a long-term feature of colonial governance.
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was formally established in Mexico City, creating a centralized church court to investigate and prosecute heresy among non-Indigenous residents. In practice it also became an important censorship institution, shaping what could be printed, imported, and read in New Spain.
Public "autos de fe" (formal ceremonies announcing sentences) began to take place in Mexico City, making inquisitorial justice highly visible. These events reinforced social pressure to conform and helped spread fear of investigation, denunciation, and public punishment.
A major Spanish "Index of Forbidden Books" was issued in 1583, part of a broader push to make censorship a core Inquisition function. In New Spain, inquisitorial and ecclesiastical officials used these indices and rules to control printed ideas, including works judged heretical, politically dangerous, or morally harmful.
In the late 1580s and early 1590s, the Inquisition targeted members of the Carvajal family and their network for "judaizing"—secretly practicing Judaism after conversion to Christianity. These cases became some of the best-known New Spain inquisitorial trials and show how the tribunal pursued religious minorities among the colony’s non-Indigenous population.
Luis de Carvajal the Younger, a crypto-Jewish writer, was executed in a Mexico City auto de fe after repeated prosecution for judaizing. His case demonstrates both the tribunal’s use of torture and confession and the harsh public penalties that could result, including death by garrote and burning.
A large public auto de fe took place in Mexico City in 1601, staged as a major civic-religious event. Such ceremonies helped the Inquisition communicate its authority to a broad public and served as a warning about prohibited beliefs and behaviors.
A major auto de fe took place in Mexico City in 1649, remembered for its large number of defendants tied to alleged crypto-Jewish networks. It illustrates how the tribunal continued to pursue suspected secret religious practice well into the seventeenth century, using public ceremony to reinforce social control.
William Lamport (Guillén de Lampart) was arrested and held for years in inquisitorial prisons, then condemned and executed in 1659. His case shows that inquisitorial prosecution in New Spain could overlap with political concerns such as sedition, not only questions of theology.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote her "Respuesta a Sor Filotea" in March 1691 after criticism from a senior church figure about her scholarship and writing. While not an Inquisition trial, the episode reflects the broader culture of surveillance and restriction on ideas in New Spain, shaped in part by the Inquisition’s censorship role.
During the liberal reforms of the Cortes of Cádiz, a decree abolished the Inquisition and replaced it with other mechanisms said to protect the faith. The decision weakened the tribunal’s legal foundation and signaled a turning point toward limiting inquisitorial power across the empire.
The 1813 abolition decree was published in Mexico City, formally ending tribunal operations in New Spain at that moment. In practical terms, it opened the way for confiscation of inquisitorial property and the dismantling of its prison and administrative machinery.
After the restoration of absolutist rule, the Inquisition was re-established, reversing the liberal suppression. This restoration showed how closely the institution was tied to political power, and it enabled renewed censorship and prosecutions for a short period.
In 1820, the Holy Office in New Spain was abolished for the last time, ending the Mexico City tribunal’s formal authority. Its closure marked a lasting shift in how religious discipline and censorship would be handled, as Mexico moved toward independence-era political and legal changes.
The Inquisition's trials and censorship in New Spain (1571–1820)