Ecuador's President Garcîa Moreno sees Roman Catholicism…

Ecuador's President Garcîa Moreno sees Roman Catholicism as the ingredient of Ecuadorian culture that, through its emphasis on order, hierarchy, and discipline, can unite the nation and save it from the multiple crises and disorder of the 1850s.

Catholicism thus holds a prominent position in each of the two new constitutions that he introduces: the charter of 1861 had named Catholicism as the exclusive religion, and its replacement in 1869, in addition to providing for a six-year presidential term and unlimited reelection, makes citizenship dependent on one's adherence to the Roman Catholic religion.

In 1863 García Moreno had promulgated Ecuador's first concordat with the Vatican, bestowing vast powers on the Ecuadorian Roman Catholic Church, especially with respect to education. A decade later, the dictator's puppet congress dedicates the republic to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.