The parish church is Real de Catorce's spiritual centre, a pink-stone neoclassical church built between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Its image of San Francisco de Asis draws thousands of pilgrims around the October feast day.
Even outside pilgrimage season, the church explains why the town did not simply disappear after the silver boom failed. The nave is calm, the retablos are full of thanks for favours granted, and the plaza outside is the easiest place to feel the town's second life.