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Remember that there’s a long history there, and not a particularly nice one. Most recently seen in the Cristero War of 1926-’29.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristero_War

However the origins of anti-Catholicism in Mexico are somewhat like the anti-Catholicism of France, but with a twist. Historically, it wasn’t that long ago that the Indians of Mexico were pagans, and there was a lot of religious and secular persecution that went on for a very long time.

Even in the US, in living memory, though the church did not directly control public offices, as such, it had such inclusive social control over Catholics that it effectively got what it wanted in Catholic regions. And non-Catholics were pretty much shut out of the process.

In Mexico, by the time the atheists came to power, they wanted to do to the church what Henry VIII did to it in England, strip it of its properties, prohibit clergy from most public life, etc. There was real anger and hatred in what they did.

And to a great extent, there is still an undercurrent of that among Mexicans. While many are very devout, there are those who would not mind seeing the church destroyed.