States and Mexico. New Mexico was occu-
pied by the U. S. Army under Brigadier
General Steven Watts Kearny later that year
and was ceded to the United States by
Mexico two years later in the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo.
well. Under Mexican sovereignty, New Mexico has been the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the
Bishop of Durango, Mexico. In July 1850, at the urging of the Catholic Church hierarchy
in the United States, the Vatican created a provisional diocese separate from Durango,
known as the Vicarate Apostolic of New Mexico. This was a step much overdue; the nearest
Mexican bishops had been able to do little in looking after their New Mexican flocks.