Pope Expected To Address Drug Violence In Mexico 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Pope Benedict XVI begins a visit Friday that takes him to Mexico, a country with around 100 million Catholics, and to Cuba, a place where church leaders have played an increasingly active role in seeking change. 
 
 There are sensitive issues in both countries that the pope is likely to address in some form. In Mexico, it's the brutal drug war that has claimed roughly 50,000 lives over the past five years. 
 
 In Cuba, where the pope travels Monday, the church has regained some of its former prominence and has been involved in a dialogue with President Raul Castro and his government. 
 
 In Mexico, even the criminal gangs, which know how to get their message out, are welcoming the pope. In the past episodes of intimidation, the narcos have lined up a series of human heads outside a slaughterhouse and piled human corpses outside a convention where prosecutors gathered. 
 
 But for the arrival of the pope, an off-shoot of the La Familia cartel this week strung up 11 banners around the city of Guanajuato welcoming Benedict and declaring that they won't attack their rivals during his visit. 
 
 Security Concerns 
 
 The local archbishop, Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago, has called on people not to be afraid of narco-violence during the three-day event. 
 
 The archbishop says he is not afraid that anything will happen during the papal visit. And he says he's aware of the extensive security that has been put in place to protect both the pope and the public. 
 
 Pope Benedict is visiting Mexico in part to shore up the church's support in a strong bastion of Catholicism. 
 
 In the 2010 census, 83 percent of Mexicans identified themselves as Catholic. And in terms of sheer numbers of followers, the only country in the world with more Catholics is Brazil, which Pope Benedict visited in 2007. 
 
 Every time I talk to people in Mexico, they question themselves rhetorically, 'What's happened to us? Why are we shooting at one another?' People are looking for some ethical direction. And I think the church still has a role to play in that. 
 
 Speaking this past Sunday at the main cathedral in Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera said the pope is coming to reinforce Mexicans' faith and hope during a very difficult time for the country. 
 
 "In these times, as the country is overshadowed by sin, violence, corruption and a social disintegration," the cardinal said, "the pope will remind Mexicans of God's power to offer guidance and salvation." 
 
 Addressing Drug Violence 
 
 Church officials say the pontiff is expected to directly address the drug violence that has been plaguing Mexico. 
 
 This message will resonate throughout the region, says Rick Jones, the deputy regional director for global solidarity and justice with Catholic Relief Services, based in El Salvador. 
 
 Jones says that from Colombia through Central America all the way to the U.S. border, drug cartels have been terrorizing communities. Especially in parts of Mexico where the gangs have waged a protracted, brutal war against the state, he says it has caused people to lose faith in humanity. 
 
 "Every time I talk to people in Mexico, they question themselves rhetorically, 'What's happened to us? Why are we shooting at one another?' People are looking for some ethical direction. And I think the church still has a role to play in that," Jones says. 
 
 Jones says the Catholic Church still has a lot of credibility in Latin America. He expects the pope to underscore during this visit how the church can help confront the terror that is currently being spread by organized crime. 
 
 "A call for coming together, overcoming fear [and] mistrust is an important role that I think the pope will have in ushering that call," he says. 
 
 The pope's itinerary includes a meeting Saturday with President Felipe Calderon. On Sunday he'll hold an open-air mass on a hillside under a towering statue of Christ. Organizers are expecting several hundred thousand Catholics from all over the region to attend. ||||| The hacker group Anonymous in Mexico crashed at least two of the websites for Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit to Mexico on Thursday, claiming the papal visit is a political move to support the conservative National Action party. 
 
 Samuel Najera, spokesman for the Mexican Episcopal Conference, said its web page on the papal visit was blocked by "a cyber attack." 
 
 "We have been aware of the threat that has been making the rounds on social networks, that was brought to fruition today," Najera said. "This is part of a dynamic these days of a lack of safety and acts of intolerance toward certain groups." 
 
 "For the moment, this does damage to the logistics" of the papal visit, Najera said. 
 
 The site contained information on the pope's planned activities starting Friday in the north-central state of Guanajuato, which is governed by President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN. 
 
 The Anonymous IberoAmerica website, which has been a channel of communication for such hacker "ops" in the past, said the site crashes were the result of Anonymous operations with names such "Pharisee" and "freeloader." 
 
 Anonymous Mexico said in a video posted on social media sites that the pope's visit will cost Mexicans money that could be better spent on the poor, and is meant to support the PAN in the July 1 presidential election. PAN candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota is trailing front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party by at least 10 percentage points in most polls on the race. 
 
 The official campaign season starts at the end of this month. 
 
 The pope's "visit comes precisely at the start of the electoral campaigns," said the faceless Anonymous figure in the video. "The PAN will take this as a political weapon to win the votes of millions of Catholics in Mexico." 
 
 Guanajuato is 93.8 percent Roman Catholic, the highest of any state in Mexico. 
 
 When asked about the timing of the pope's visit, Calderon's office released a March 11 press release noting that Calderon invited the pope in 2007. 
 
 Some people have also questioned the pope's decision not to come to liberal Mexico City, where legislators have legalized abortion and gay marriage in the federal district. The Vatican has said the pope cannot be at high altitudes. Mexico City is about 7,300 feet (2,225 meters) above sea level. 
 
 Another website with information on where to stay in Guanajuato and how to attend papal events was also crashed. That site was registered to Juan Carlos Mata Ruiz and a group called NIC Mexico. 
 
 The website of the Guanajuato state government was also out of service Thursday, the state press office acknowledged, but it would not say whether that was a result of hacking or a cyber attack.
– Pope Benedict XVI begins a trip to Mexico and Cuba today, but Mexicans searching for information about his visit may find Anonymous standing in the way. The Mexican branch of the hacking collective has crashed at least two websites for the papal visit, claiming that the visit is a political ploy to win support for the conservative National Action party ahead of the July 1 presidential election, the AP reports. The hackers released a video saying the visit is costing Mexicans money that should be spent on the poor. In Rome, the pope was seen using a cane in public for the first time as he boarded his flight to Mexico this morning. This is his first visit to the country and he is widely expected to address its brutal drug war, NPR reports. In the city of Guanajuato, his first stop, the local archbishop has urged people not to fear drug violence during the visit. An offshoot of the La Familia cartel hung welcome banners displaying a friendly message: It won't attack rivals while the pontiff is in town.