Pope denounces violence in Mexico

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE -- Pope Benedict XVI denounced the drug-fueled violence wracking Mexico and urged Cubans to use dialogue to find new models to replace Marxism as he began a pilgrimage Friday that will take him to both countries.

Benedict spoke to reporters after breakfast aboard a special Alitalia flight carrying him to central Mexico later in the day. The pope said "idolatry of money" lies behind the violence that has claimed more than 47,000 lives in Mexico since a government crackdown began in 2006.

On Monday, Benedict will leave Mexico for Cuba, where he said that it is "evident that Marxist ideology as it was conceived no longer responds to reality," and he urged Cubans to "find new models, with patience, and in a constructive way." The pope replied to a few questions from journalists that were submitted before the trip.

Talking about Mexico, he decried that the violence, and the lust for money that he said lies behind it, were destroying that predominantly Catholic country's young people in particular.

Benedict said that the "great responsibility of the church is to educate the conscience, teach moral responsibility and strip off the mask [from] the idolatry of money that enslaves mankind, and unmask the false promise, this lie that is behind" the drug culture. -- AP