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.”