* Mexico probing church renovation for drug links
* Church says drug lord's mother may be linked
MEXICO CITY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are probing whether drug money that may be linked to the leader of Mexico's most violent cartel was used to renovate a Roman Catholic church.
Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, who heads the Zetas cartel, known for beheading victims and slaughtering migrants, is one of Mexico's most wanted men as the country fights a drug war that has killed more than 29,000 people since late 2006.[ID:nN12295207]
An official at the Mexican attorney general's office said that prosecutors, who took notice of the issue when Mexican newspaper La Razon linked the renovation to Lazcano, were trying to determine whether illicit funds were used to renovate the small church near the city of Pachuca.
An official at the Mexican bishops' council said funding for the reconstruction appeared to have come from Lazcano's mother, who served on a church renovation committee.
"If the (local) priest had knowledge (of the donation), that should be sanctioned," said Manuel Corral, an official with the bishops' council, told Reuters.
The local diocese said in a statement it could not say for sure whether the renovation was financed by Lazcano.
"After the chapel's renovation was finished, a plaque was unveiled (on the renovated church)... with the name of one of the principal donors and it was a considerable shock to the community, especially now that the media has linked this person to organized crime," the statement said.
"The pastor never ... had contact with this person."
Corral said he was unaware of any other cases of drug cartels donating money to the Catholic Church in Mexico, the world's second largest Catholic community.
Some cartels have been known to court support by doling out gifts or throwing parties for local residents. [ID:nN12295207] (Editing by Missy Ryan and Peter Cooney)
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