Pope declares Mafia mobsters 'excommunicated'

Forthright statement on visit to Italian Mafia heartland.

(Photo: whispers in the loggia)

Vatican City:  Even as today's papal visit to Cassano all'Ionio saw Francis deliver moving messages to prisoners and priests alike, as expected, the day's headline came elsewhere.

Closing out the daylong trek with a Mass – in a rarity for pontifical liturgies, a Sunday vigil – along the shore of the Ionian Sea, the Pope tackled the area's tormented legacy of organized crime, declaring that 'ndrangheta, the locally-based syndicate widely thought to be Italy's most feared Mafia branch, "is this: the adoration of evil and contempt of the common good."

Going further, and lifting his head from his prepared text, Papa Bergoglio said that "those who in their lives have taken this evil road, this road of evil, such as the mafiosi, they are not in communion with God – they are excommunicated!"

The massive crowd responded by erupting into applause and cheers. In January, the Mafia murder of a 3 year-old boy in a Cassano car-bombing sparked outrage across Italy and saw Francis deliver prayers and a rebuke for the perpetrators at his Sunday Angelus.

Prior to today's Mass, the Pope met the grandparents and father of the young victim, Coco Campolongo.

On another front, Papa Bergoglio's "Mob hit" comes a day after Francis made global headlines for decrying the legalization of "any type of drug" as "a veiled way of surrendering to the phenomenon" of addiction in society.

Back to today, while canonists will take pains to emphasize that the "excommunicated" statement is by no means a formal decree with legal effect, in terms of the symbolics and public perception, its potency would be difficult to overestimate.

For purposes of context, when a veteran prosecutor of Mob cases relayed last year that Francis hadrattled 'ndrangheta amid his attempts to reform the Vatican's "power centers" – an agenda which "put [the Pope] at risk" – the official noted that "the church has never excommunicated a mobster."

As the thought has likely crossed the mind of not a few Italian bishops, they now have the clearance to proceed with it. Repeating an earlier word, the Mafia theme is fairly certain to resurface on July 5th, when Francis visits Campobasso, home to Italy's most outspoken prelate against the syndicates, Archbishop Giancarlo Bregantini.

Extract from Pope Francis's speech: "When adoration of the Lord is substituted by adoration of money, the road to sin opens to personal interest ... When one does not adore the Lord, one becomes an adorer of evil, like those who live by dishonesty and violence.

Your land, which so beautiful, knows the signs of the consequences of this sin. The‘ndrangheta is this: adoration of evil and contempt of the common good. This evil must be fought, must be expelled. It must be told no.

The Church, which is so committed to educating consciences, must always expend itself even more so that good can prevail.

Our children ask this of us. Our young people ask this of us, they, who need hope. To be able to respond to this demands, faith can help us.

Those who in their lives have taken this evil road, this road of evil, such as the mobsters, they are not in communion with God, they are excommunicated!"

Source: Whispers in the Loggia