MEXICO CITY (AP) - A drug gang unfurled banners in a Mexican
city that Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit next month,
telling rival traffickers to keep out and keep the peace during the
papal visit.

One of the banners was signed by The Knights Templar, a violent,
pseudo-religious cartel from the neighboring state of Michoacan.
The cloth banners with hand-painted messages were found and quickly removed on Tuesday, a few weeks after the local Roman Catholic archdiocese had issued a public plea to drug gangs not to mar the Pope's visit with violence.

"We just want to warn that we do not want more groups in the
state of Guanajuato. Confrontations will be inevitable. You have
been warned, New Generation, we want Guanajuato in Peace, so don't think about moving in and much less causing violence, precisely at this time when His Holiness Benedict XVI is coming," according to
the sign. Municipal police sent a photo of the banner to The
Associated Press.

"New Generation" refers to a rival gang from the neighboring
state of Jalisco, which is believed to be allied with the powerful
Sinaloa drug cartel. The two groups, along with the Zetas, have
been locked in battles in all three states.

Rife with misspellings and abbreviations, and daubed in red
paint on white cloth, the banner and two other, similar messages
had been hung from bridges at heavily traveled intersections in
Leon on Tuesday. Several others were found in other towns in
Guanajuato state.

Police spokesman Gabriel Cordero said in an e-mail that the
banners had been taken down and handed over to federal prosecutors.

On Jan. 22, Leon Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago called
on drug cartels to observe a sort of truce during the Pope's visit.

"To those who do evil, if my words can reach them, I would tell
them to realize that we are living times of grace and peace, and
that they should help by allowing all these people to come to an
event that is totally respectable, and not to take advantage to do
anything that could lead to an experience of mourning and death,"
Rabago told reporters.

"I trust that in their hearts, they are human in the end, there
is enough sensitivity to respect people's lives."

It was not clear if the gang's banners were a direct response to
that plea. Thee city of Leon has largely been spared the brutal
executions and shootouts that have hit Michoacan, the Knights
Templars' home state.

The Templars in the past have cast themselves as defenders of
the people, often using such banners.

In July, the cartel passed out copies of a booklet containing
its "code of conduct," which claimed its members are prohibited
them from killing for money or using drugs.

Taking its name from a medieval Roman Catholic order of
religious warriors who fought Muslim armies for control of
Jerusalem, the Knights Templar cartel has been blamed for murders,
extortion, drug trafficking and attacks on police.

Federal Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire, the country's top
domestic security official, said only that "in Guanajuato, there
will be security, based on the rule of law," when asked about the
banners.

Father Raul Villegas, the spokesman for the Leon archdiocese,
also downplayed the banners Tuesday and said they won't affect
planning for the pope's visit, his office said.