It’s Ok To Tithe Drug Money, Mexican Archbishop Says

Donations to the Catholic Church from drug traffickers should not be rejected on the ground that the money has been earned illegally, a Mexican church official said.

“If we take away from them this manner of compensating, we send them to perdition,” Manuel Talamas, archbishop emeritus of Ciudad Juarez, told the weekly magazine Proceso. Nevertheless, Talamas said his diocese had never accepted such donations under his leadership.

Not all church officials agree with his open policy on contributions.

Hector Gonzalez Martinez, archbishop of Oaxaca, said his diocese has a rule of not accepting donations from people “who seek to cleanse their conscience in this way,” he said in Sunday’s edition of Proceso.