In this photo taken July 14, 2011, white robes with Maltese crosses, guns, munitions and Templar Knights paraphernalia are shown to the press when a training camp was discovered after a firefight between Mexican army soldiers and gunmen in the woods near the town of Santa Gertrudis, Mexico. The Templar Knights, a new drug cartel that was created after it splintered from the La Familia cartel last March, has issued a code-of-conduct booklet for members saying it is fighting a war against tyranny and injustice. (AP Photo)Gee, they seem like good Catholics and all around nice fellows.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Banners purportedly signed by one of Mexico's drug cartels and hung in Guanajuato promise there will be no violence during next weekend's visit to the state by Pope Benedict XVI, an official said Sunday.
At least 11 banners signed by The Knights Templar gang were found in five municipalities, including the city of Leon, where the pope begins his trip Friday, an official at the state Attorney General's Office said. The official agreed to discuss the events on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to disclose the information.
He said the banners were found Saturday hanging from pedestrian bridges and carried messages about "a sort of truce for peace and said they are going to keep the peace during the pope's visit."
The official did not reveal the exact wording of the messages, but the newspaper Reforma's Sunday edition said one banner read: "The Knights Templar disavow any military action, we are not murders, welcome to the Pope."
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