Editing History of Paraguay (section)

====Targeting the Church====
One of Francia's special targets was the Roman Catholic Church, which had provided an essential support to Spanish rule by spreading the doctrine of the "[[divine right of kings]]" and inculcating the native masses with a resigned [[fatalism]] about their social status and economic prospects. In 1824 Francia banned all [[religious order]]s, closed the only [[seminary]], "secularized" monks and priests by forcing them to swear loyalty to the state, abolished the ''fuero eclesiástico'' (the privilege of clerical immunity from civil courts), confiscated Church property, and subordinated its finances to state control.

The common people benefited from the suppression of the traditional elites and from the expansion of the state. Francia took land from the elite and the church and leased it to the poor. About 875 families received [[homestead (buildings)|homestead]]s from the lands of the former seminary. The various fines and confiscations levied on the elites helped to reduce taxes for everyone else. As a result, Francia's attacks on the elite and his state-socialist policies provoked little popular resistance. The state quickly became the nation's largest landowner, eventually operating forty-five animal-breeding farms. Run by army personnel, these farms were so successful that surplus animals were given away to the peasants.