Pope urges southern Italy to fight crime by building common good
(October 10, 2011) 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. Pope Benedict made the comments while
celebrating an open-air Mass in Lamezia Terme, in Calabria in the ``toe'' of boot-shaped
Italy. The Pope spent the entire day in region which is home to the 'Ndrangheta’,
the ruthless crime syndicate, which today is 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 with an unemployment rate at 12 percent compared with
a national average of 7.9 percent, and a 39 percent jobless rate for people aged 15-24.
Pope Benedict noted the region is seismic, “not just geologically but also from the
structural, behavioural and social point of view'', and said high unemployment and
Calabria's “often inhuman criminality” wound the fabric of society. He praised the
people 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. “Never give in to the temptation of pessimism or withdrawing
into yourselves,” the Pope urged. ``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. Before reciting the midday Marian ‘Angelus’ prayer at the end
of the Mass, Pope Benedict encouraged Calabrians to invoke Mary's intercession for
the most serious social problems of the region, especially those of work, of youth
and of the care of handicapped people who require increasing attention on the part
of everyone, in particular of the institutions. The Holy Father encouraged the lay
people to contribute their competence and responsibility in building the common good. Later
on Sunday, Pope Benedict visited a Carthusian monastery in Calabria where he urged
for the silence of the heart against the noise of the modern world. The lack of silence
in contemporary society is making many people’s lives “more agitated and at times
convulsed,” Pope Benedict XVI noted while visiting the town of Serra San Bruno, during
his day-long visit to Lamezi Terme in southern Italy. “Without realizing it, people
are immersed in a virtual dimension, because of the audio-visual messages that accompany
their life from morning to evening,” the Pope noted. He pointed to the Carthusian
charism of silence as “a precious gift for the Church and the world,” and one that
contained “a profound message for our life and for humanity.” In contrast with a
certain modern mindset that it is dominated by economic interests,” or which is only
concerned with earthly and not spiritual things, the Pope said the silence and solitude
of Carthusian life allow man to experience the fullness and presence of God and the
reality beyond the senses. A society based on the worldly mindset, he said, “not only
marginalizes God, but also our neighbour, and we do not strive for the common good.”