Playa del Carmen Has 380 Registered Temples; Officials Estimate 60 More Unregistered

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — About 60 temples and faith centers in Playa del Carmen are operating without being registered in the municipal registry, which currently lists approximately 380 spaces for public worship.

León Ballesteros, head of the city council’s Religious Affairs department, said staff conduct ongoing visits to identify new centers and verify whether they appear in municipal records.

“We estimate there are about 60 temples that we don’t have in the registry,” Ballesteros said.

When inspectors find a worship space that is not on the list, he said, they leave a presentation letter and an invitation to begin the registration process.

The registry lets the city know where worship centers are located, who runs them and what activities they carry out. It also gives groups access to training sessions and requests to use public spaces, Ballesteros explained.

To obtain a certificate, centers must provide information about their denomination, activity schedule, the name of the person in charge and documents related to the property used for worship.

Over the past two years, about 15 new faith centers have completed the process, Ballesteros said. Another 20 have finished the paperwork needed to receive their certificate, and four or five have had recent visits to make the delivery.

Ballesteros also noted a shift in where religious centers are concentrated in Playa del Carmen. The Villas del Sol neighborhood has displaced Colonia Luis Donaldo Colosio as the area with the most temples.

“Colosio is no longer in first place; now it’s Villas del Sol,” he said.

The department estimates Villas del Sol has between 27 and 28 registered temples, with an additional 20 to 25 possibly outside the registry. Combined, the neighborhood could hold 47 to 53 faith centers.

Ballesteros said some congregations first start meeting in homes, and the department encourages them to treat that as a temporary arrangement and later find a suitable building.

He clarified that municipal registration is separate from the process of formally establishing a religious association at the federal level. The city is coordinating with state and federal authorities to help groups prepare their files.

When a center provides services beyond worship — such as food, medical care or other assistance — agencies including Civil Protection, Environment and Urban Development may be brought in, depending on the property and the services offered.