TRAFFICKERS FINANCING CHURCHES, BISHOP SAYS

Cardinal, Officials in Ruling Party Condemn Remarks on Generosity

MEXICO CITY - A top Roman Catholic leader suggested that violent drug
traffickers have been "generous" to their communities, drawing a
swift rebuke Saturday from another high-ranking church official and
ruling-party politicians.

Texcoco Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, president of the Mexican Bishops
Conference, said drug lords had financed public works in rural areas
that are little served by the government and also had built churches.

"They are very generous with the people in their communities, and in
general they install electricity, telecommunications, highways,
roads, paid for by them," Bishop Aguiar said after a meeting of
bishops Friday, according to news reports. "They are very generous,
and many times they also build a church or a chapel."

The bishop stressed that "I'm not justifying this; I'm simply saying
what is evident." He added that even the smallest drug distributor
does "immense" damage.

Drug lords should be forgiven if they repent, Bishop Aguiar said.

"There have been some who have approached us and asked for
orientation about how to change their lives," he said, adding that
they come "from all levels."

The bishop said narcos should have a legal way of starting a new life
through a witness protection program similar to one in Colombia.

Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera, the nation's highest-ranking
churchman, said through a spokesman that the bishop's comments could
be misconstrued as being soft on the traffickers.

Damage Done

More than 3,000 people have died in the drug fight since Felipe
Calderon began his presidency 16 months ago with a military crackdown
on the drug cartels that operate along the Mexico-Texas border and
elsewhere in Mexico.

"Our position is the church's traditional one that categorically
condemns drug trafficking activity as immoral," Rivera spokesman Hugo
Valdemar said in a telephone interview. "Their good intentions to
change do not undo the damage they have done to thousands of people.

"From here we send them a message: If they want to change their
lives, then they should do so, but not with the support of the
church," Mr. Valdemar said. "That's what there are laws for."

Bishop Aguiar said through a spokesman that he was too busy to be
interviewed Saturday.

Top officials in Mr. Calderon's conservative National Action Party,
or PAN, said the church should not accept drug money.

"Even if bad money is used for a good end, that is still wrong, and
we should close the doors to drug traffickers in every way," said
Santiago Creel, coordinator for the PAN in the Mexican Senate. He was
quoted by the official government news agency Notimex.

Carlos Abascal, a PAN member and former interior minister who is
close to the conservative wing of the church, told the news agency
that "the end does not justify the means."

Recurring Issue

Jorge Chabat, a political commentator who follows the drug fight,
said Mr. Aguiar's "revival" of the sensitive subject of narco-church
relations comes at a bad time for Mr. Calderon, whose party is
closely linked with the church.

"The PAN does not want to give the impression that drug traffickers
are helping the Catholic Church and the government is not doing
anything," he said. "That could be considered money laundering."

The topic is a recurring one, he said, with news reports of priests
officiating at drug traffickers' weddings and other religious
ceremonies in exchange for donations.

Occasionally, church officials speak openly about the topic, Mr.
Chabat said, although it's difficult to tell their motives.

"In principle, it is the position of the Catholic Church that all
human beings can be forgiven if they repent," he said. "But one thing
is the church's forgiveness, and another thing is the application of the law."