Argentine Law 1420

Although the Law 1.420 was a project created by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the law was issued during the government of Julio Argentino Roca, a firm defender of the separation of the Church and the State. There was great turmoil among the most traditionalist and conservative sectors of Argentine society due to the replacement of the Catholic Church, which used to provide services such as education. == Conflict with the Catholic Church ==

The Papal Nuncio, Luis Mattera, spoke against the law. The government replied that Mattera was free to expose his ideas privately but not to interfere in government matters. Mattera tried to stop the arrival of school teachers hired by the Argentine authorities in the United States for the direction of public secular establishments. Opposition to the law came also from priests' sermons, Church newspapers, documents by bishops, and demonstrations supported by the clergy. When the first Normal School was established in Córdoba, the Capitular Vicar, Gerónimo Clara, and priests denounced it from the pulpits as anathema. Clara was arrested and charged by the national authorities. Mattera spoke to the head of the school and asked for a number of conditions to be met, including the teaching of the Catholic religion in the establishment. Those requirements were conveyed to the provincial government and, in turn, to the national authorities, which rejected them as interference by a foreign agent. Mattera ended up apologizing through a particular missive to Roca. ==References==