| Resumo: | Bishops and archbishops from Mexico's Ecclesiastical Province had full jurisdiction over indigenous peoples, and therefore they dealt with offences relating to customs and those against Catholic faith in their courts. This article discusses the relationship between Mexico’s Archbishopric's Ecclesiastical Court and the Indians, and, within this relationship, analyses the fashioning of the court specialized in naturales (i.e. Indians) until 1630, springing from a hundred years old tradition. It is shown that archiepiscopal policy was fundamentally oriented towards the “reform of customs” of naturales, in order to draw up a set of moral practices akin to those of the majority of New Spain's population. Moreover, this paper shows as well that it is not possible to confirm the existence of an inquisitorial institution that acted against the Indians during this time, despite the enforcing of campaigns to eliminate idolatrous practices, which in themselves were very limited in their jurisdictional, spatial and temporal application.
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