(ಠ_ಠ)РаОÑа
2014-06-22 01:10:30 UTC
Looks like he's the best thing that has happened to the Catholic church
in a long, long time.
Not too far back, he vowed to de-frock any priest involved in child
sexual abuse or improper sexual conduct.
And he's been doing that. See the numbers here:
http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=54000
Now he's going after the Mafia - which he knows has its roots in Sicily
and Italy. Will the Godfather series have to be re-written with scenes
showing Mafia members being turned away at the door of the Church when
they go for their weekly absolution of their sins? ((+_+))
________________________________________
www.theaustralian.com.au - June 22, 2014
No more child mafia victims, demands Pope Francis
POPE Francis has launched a scathing attack on organised crime during a
trip to the heartland of a feared syndicate.
The pontiff declared all mafia members “excommunicated” from the
Catholic Church.
The mafia “is the adoration of evil and contempt for common good. This
evil must be beaten, expelled,” the Pope told worshippers near the
hometown of a toddler killed in a clan war earlier this year.
“Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are
not in communion with God. They are excommunicated,” he told the
congregation.
People who are excommunicated are expelled from the Church, unless they
repent, and are considered to be condemned to Hell in the afterlife.
The 77-year-old Pope was speaking at the end of a trip to the territory
controlled by the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, where he comforted
relatives of “Coco” Campolongo, a three-year-old who was shot dead in
January in an apparent mob hit over money.
“It must never again happen that a child suffers in this way,” he said
as he met Coco’s father and grandmothers, according to a Vatican spokesman.
Francis visited the Calabria region despite fears he might provoke the
local underworld.
“I pray for him continuously. Do not despair,” Francis said during a
visit to Castrovillari prison, where several members of Coco’s family
are serving time for drug-related crimes.
He asked them to pass the message on to the toddler’s mother, who was
also in prison at the time of his murder and is now living under house
arrest.
Coco was shot in the head in January, executed along with his
grandfather and his Moroccan companion after a drug debt went unpaid.
The discovery of his body strapped to a car-seat in a burnt-out Fiat
Punto sent shockwaves through Italy, as did the murder just two months
later of another three-year-old in the nearby Puglia region.
The Pope’s trip to what is the second-poorest region in the south of
Italy aims not only to remember child victims but also highlight the
problems the young have in escaping the pervasive grip of the wealthy
‘Ndrangheta.
Unemployment among the under-25s in the region stands at 56.1 per cent -
the highest in Italy in 2013 according to Eurostat - and local mobsters
thrive by offering idle youngsters work, luring them into their networks.
According to Save the Children Italy, more than a third of all families
in the impoverished south live in communities known to be under the
control of clans.
Many of the inmates the pope met at Castrovillari were serving time for
mafia-related crimes.
Under a blistering southern sun, Francis approached all 200 prisoners
one by one, several of them weeping as he clasped their hands.
Francis stopped to speak with a group of disabled people in the large
crowd of faithful outside the jail, before heading by helicopter to
Coco’s hometown of Cassano allo Jonio, nestled at the bottom of a steep
mountain.
There the 77-year-old — who was met with cheers and the release of
dozens of yellow and white balloons — visited a hospice and was set to
meet with priests, before lunching with poor and young people.
He was to wind up the day with a mass in the nearby town of Marina di
Sibari, expected to be attended by 100,000 people.
The Argentine pope has denounced organised crime groups, warning
mobsters to relinquish their “bloodstained money” which “cannot be taken
to heaven”.
The ’Ndrangheta plays a leading role in the global cocaine trade and its
bastion, the Calabria region, is a major transit point for drug
shipments from Latin America to the rest of Europe.
It has benefitted in the past from historic ties to the Church, with
dons claiming to be God-fearing Catholics and priests turning a blind
eye to crimes.
But over the past 20 years numerous priests have taken part in the fight
against the clans — sometimes paying for their bravery with their lives.
in a long, long time.
Not too far back, he vowed to de-frock any priest involved in child
sexual abuse or improper sexual conduct.
And he's been doing that. See the numbers here:
http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=54000
Now he's going after the Mafia - which he knows has its roots in Sicily
and Italy. Will the Godfather series have to be re-written with scenes
showing Mafia members being turned away at the door of the Church when
they go for their weekly absolution of their sins? ((+_+))
________________________________________
www.theaustralian.com.au - June 22, 2014
No more child mafia victims, demands Pope Francis
POPE Francis has launched a scathing attack on organised crime during a
trip to the heartland of a feared syndicate.
The pontiff declared all mafia members “excommunicated” from the
Catholic Church.
The mafia “is the adoration of evil and contempt for common good. This
evil must be beaten, expelled,” the Pope told worshippers near the
hometown of a toddler killed in a clan war earlier this year.
“Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as mafiosi do, are
not in communion with God. They are excommunicated,” he told the
congregation.
People who are excommunicated are expelled from the Church, unless they
repent, and are considered to be condemned to Hell in the afterlife.
The 77-year-old Pope was speaking at the end of a trip to the territory
controlled by the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, where he comforted
relatives of “Coco” Campolongo, a three-year-old who was shot dead in
January in an apparent mob hit over money.
“It must never again happen that a child suffers in this way,” he said
as he met Coco’s father and grandmothers, according to a Vatican spokesman.
Francis visited the Calabria region despite fears he might provoke the
local underworld.
“I pray for him continuously. Do not despair,” Francis said during a
visit to Castrovillari prison, where several members of Coco’s family
are serving time for drug-related crimes.
He asked them to pass the message on to the toddler’s mother, who was
also in prison at the time of his murder and is now living under house
arrest.
Coco was shot in the head in January, executed along with his
grandfather and his Moroccan companion after a drug debt went unpaid.
The discovery of his body strapped to a car-seat in a burnt-out Fiat
Punto sent shockwaves through Italy, as did the murder just two months
later of another three-year-old in the nearby Puglia region.
The Pope’s trip to what is the second-poorest region in the south of
Italy aims not only to remember child victims but also highlight the
problems the young have in escaping the pervasive grip of the wealthy
‘Ndrangheta.
Unemployment among the under-25s in the region stands at 56.1 per cent -
the highest in Italy in 2013 according to Eurostat - and local mobsters
thrive by offering idle youngsters work, luring them into their networks.
According to Save the Children Italy, more than a third of all families
in the impoverished south live in communities known to be under the
control of clans.
Many of the inmates the pope met at Castrovillari were serving time for
mafia-related crimes.
Under a blistering southern sun, Francis approached all 200 prisoners
one by one, several of them weeping as he clasped their hands.
Francis stopped to speak with a group of disabled people in the large
crowd of faithful outside the jail, before heading by helicopter to
Coco’s hometown of Cassano allo Jonio, nestled at the bottom of a steep
mountain.
There the 77-year-old — who was met with cheers and the release of
dozens of yellow and white balloons — visited a hospice and was set to
meet with priests, before lunching with poor and young people.
He was to wind up the day with a mass in the nearby town of Marina di
Sibari, expected to be attended by 100,000 people.
The Argentine pope has denounced organised crime groups, warning
mobsters to relinquish their “bloodstained money” which “cannot be taken
to heaven”.
The ’Ndrangheta plays a leading role in the global cocaine trade and its
bastion, the Calabria region, is a major transit point for drug
shipments from Latin America to the rest of Europe.
It has benefitted in the past from historic ties to the Church, with
dons claiming to be God-fearing Catholics and priests turning a blind
eye to crimes.
But over the past 20 years numerous priests have taken part in the fight
against the clans — sometimes paying for their bravery with their lives.