It's pretty clear in the laws of Catholicism that priests should be morally upright men who always follow the church's rules and never exploit their power over others. Unfortunately, that's not how things always happen with these guys in Death Comes for the Archbishop.
Padre Martinez, for example, likes using his power to sleep with young women, while Father Lucero tends to hoard all the money he collects from his parishioners. Luckily, there are guys like Father Latour and Father Vaillant who are determined to weed out this kind of hypocrisy and corruption in order to make New Mexico a better place for the Catholic faith. Let's hear it for Latour and Vaillant: what a couple of stand-up guys.
Questions About Hypocrisy
- Who is a bigger hypocrite in your mind, Padre Martinez or Father Lucero? Why?
- Are there any moments in this book where Father Latour looks like a hypocrite? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
- Why is Padre Martinez so convinced that he can interpret the rules of Catholicism whatever way he wants? What does this tell us about his character?
Chew on This
In Death Comes for the Archbishop, we find that it's impossible to hold a lot of social power without engaging in some sort of hypocrisy.
In Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather shows us that there are two kinds of people in the world: hypocrites and those who are morally pure.