Mexican
federal authorities are investigating whether a Roman Catholic priest
received money from a top narcotrafficker to build a chapel, a church
official said this week.
The
inquiry centers on whether the head of the notorious Zetas drug cartel,
Heriberto Lazcano, donated money to a church in Hidalgo state, the
government-run Notimex news agency reported, citing Mexican archdiocese
spokesman Hugo Valdemar.
News reports said a plaque naming financial donors to the chapel lists Lazcano.
The federal attorney general's office and the archdiocese of Mexico are investigating, the news outlet said.
The
priest who reportedly accepted the money, whom church officials
declined to identify, has been suspended pending the outcome of the
investigation, Notimex said.
Mexico's bishops eagerly support jailing any priest who takes money from drug traffickers, Valdemar said, according to Notimex.
The
church spokesman said there is no sector of Mexican society that can
escape the narcotraffickers' "corrupting tentacles." The government,
military, police and media also have been infiltrated, church officials
say.
"They
are very isolated cases," Valdemar said. "We can't talk about the
church in general. And, of course, these cases fall under the
responsibility of those priests, communities that have received this
type of aid."
Another archdiocese spokesman said priests cannot accept dirty money under any circumstance, no matter what the intent.
"The
church can never accept narcotrafficking money even if it is for a good
cause," the Rev. Jose de Jesus Aguilar told CNN en Español. "The aim of
narcotrafficking is always destruction, even if it is disguised as
goodness."
SIC: MDN/INT'L