Pope: Mafia In Southern Italy 'Inhumane'

LAMEZIA TERME, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday denounced the "inhuman" mafia that plagues southern Italy and urged residents there to respond to the region's suffering by caring for one another and the common good.

Benedict made the comments while celebrating an open-air Mass in Lamezia Terme, in Calabria in the "toe" of boot-shaped Italy.

The region is home to the 'ndrangheta mob, which is today considered more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia and is one of the world's biggest cocaine traffickers. Calabria is also one of the poorest regions in Italy – it has a 12 percent unemployment rate compared with a national average of 7.9 percent, and a 39 percent jobless rate for people aged 15-24.

Benedict noted the region is seismic – "not just geologically but from the structural, behavioral and social point of view" – and said high unemployment and Calabria's "often inhuman criminality wounds the fabric of society."

He praised Calabrians for their ability to live with such problems and a near-constant state of emergency and urged them to continue responding to the ills afflicting the region with faith and Christian values.

"Force yourselves to grow in the ability to collaborate with one another, care for one another and all the public good," he said.

It was Benedict's first visit to the region and police estimated about 40,000 people had turned out under cold, dark skies for the Mass.

The city's mayor, Gianni Speranza, welcomed Benedict but didn't gloss over the region's ills. "Welcome to Lamezia Terme, your holiness, a land of suffering," he said.

He said the region's young people needed a sign of hope that they can live without the mob and fear. "Enough with the mafia!" he added.

Comments

[addisonsteele]

01:14 PM on 10/10/2011

Gee, the Vatican has been one of the major partners of the Sicilian, Naplese, and Calabrian mafias.

[Mondayboy]

12:52 PM on 10/10/2011

Is there a bigger Mafia in the world than the Vatican?

[builderman55]

11:30 AM on 10/10/2011

Weird that the funny hat wearing head of a global religious mafia criticizes a much smaller variant. I guess they hate competition...

[IfIonlyknew]

10:40 AM on 10/10/2011

He is just mad at them for not paying for there Indulgences.

[Talab]

11:04 AM on 10/10/2011

I was thinking the same thing , his way of telling the dons they were shorting his share of the action

[Louise Aloft]

07:46 AM on 10/10/2011

and they would know because the priests take their confessions.

[ColoradoCool]

05:48 AM on 10/10/2011

I can't imagine what the Pope has against the Mafia. The Vatican and whole of the Catholic Church is modeled on the way it runs its organization.

[TekiyaGedolah]

03:20 AM on 10/10/2011

"Enough with the mafia" he added while checking his breast pocket for the envelope he had received.

[DonVito]

08:59 PM on 10/09/2011

What does this German Papa know about Southern Italy ?
Enough of Northern European Papas; we need a Southern European Papa.

Don Vito

[IfIonlyknew]

10:47 AM on 10/10/2011

They used to pay the church a lot more money than they have been lately.

[who38]

08:28 PM on 10/09/2011

Pot - kettle.

[waldopepper]

06:54 PM on 10/09/2011

Syndicates deplore competition.

[Gadgetman]

05:16 PM on 10/09/2011

Yes, the Mafia is inhumane... Which means they haven't paid us (the Church) our cut in months!

[LMPE]

04:14 PM on 10/09/2011

"I consider the mafia inhumane. I have no comment about pedophiles."

[patman77]

01:46 PM on 10/09/2011

but he's ok with the neoconmen mob.

[brokerthanu]

01:28 PM on 10/09/2011

What does it take for the church to consider someone inhumane? Whatever anyone does is nothing the church hasn't done.

[Louise Aloft]

07:47 AM on 10/10/2011

well... up to a point. the church isn't well-known for throwing other people's kids in vats of acid.

[brokerthanu]

01:27 PM on 10/09/2011

You should never openly criticize your spouse or your closest ally in public like that.