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The Pope & The Vatican Vs. The Mafia

ramonmercado

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How pope upset Mafia

by Desmond O'Grady
in Rome

June 24, 2006

THE Mafia has declared its verdict on Pope John Paul II: he was "offensive" to Sicilians, but commendable as an anti-communist.

The offence was supposedly taken in Agrigento, Sicily, in 1993, when John Paul, index finger raised to heaven, shouted that God would judge Mafia killers. He called the criminal organisation "a minority which dishonours Sicily".

A mafioso doctor, Antonino Cina, referred to this denunciation as "exaggerated" and "offensive" in Palermo two days after John Paul's death last year.

Extracts from the conversation - one of many secretly recorded by police - appeared in Milan's Corriere della Sera after police arrested 45 mafiosi in Palermo on Tuesday.

The conversations took place in a shed next to the home of Nino Rotolo, a condemned killer who was under house arrest for medical reasons.

The transcripts expose internal Mafia politicking and plans for the killing of errant members. They also show that while running a criminal organisation, the mafiosi took a moral tone, for example, adjudging Fidel Castro a torturer and deploring Brazilian police death squads.

www.smh.com.au/news/world/how-pope-upse ... 78969.html
 
He was only offensive against criminal elements on Sicily. It's obvious he was careful about not offending the whole population.
 
Pope Francis under threat from the Mafia after anti-corruption sermons
Pope Francis has called on the Mafia to repent for “exploiting and enslaving people”
By IrishCentral Staff Writers,
Published Friday, November 15, 2013, 7:45 AM
Updated Friday, November 15, 2013, 7:45 AM

The Mafia are considering a strike on Pope Francis, a senior prosecutor in southern Italy has warned.

The Pope's life is in danger due to his desire to stamp out corruption in a 'total clean up,' which is making organized crime groups 'nervous.'

In one of his first sermons after he was elected Pope he called on the mafia to repent for 'exploiting and enslaving people.'

On Monday, during a sermon, the Pope said that officials who took bribes should be “tied to a rock and thrown in the sea.”

In response, deputy chief prosecutor of the Reggio Calabria region, Nicola Gratteri has said members of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia are concerned by Pope Francis' crusade against corruption, “wearing his iron crucifix, as he rails against worldly goods and plans a total clean up”.

He told the Italian daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano: “Those that are in the financial arms of the mafia are concerned by Pope Francis, yes.

“Those who until now have been feeding off the wealth and power that comes directly from the Church are agitated and nervous.”

He added: “Papa Bergoglio [sic] is dismantling the centers of economic power in the Vatican. If the bosses could take him down they would not hesitate.”

The prosecutor said the mafia would not be capable of such a strike, considering the Vatican security are so advanced.

“I do not know if organised criminal gangs are in a position to do something, but they are certainly considering it. It's a dangerous time for Pope Francis.”

The 'Ndrangheta group is considered by experts to be one of the most dangerous in Italy.

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pope-F ... z2l68cJzdy
 
Actually, if the Mafia killed the Pope, they'd make a martyr out of him - which would ultimately cause people to rise up against them, perhaps wiping them out.
 
Excommunication breakdown: Religious parades banned over mafia boss holy march

An Italian bishop suspended all religious processions in his diocese in response to a recent religious parade in which a statue of Virgin Mary was carried to honor a local Mafia boss, despite the Pope excommunicating Mafiosi shortly beforehand.

Italians defy Pope, take church procession to mafia boss’ house

The ‘holy’ fuss was sparked on July, 2 when a church procession in the southern Italian town of Oppido Mamertina, in the Calabria region, diverted from its normal route to pay tribute to a local Mafioso under house arrest.

Churchgoers carrying the statue of the Virgin Mary, reportedly made it bend down to “bow” in front of the house of a local ‘godfather’, Giuseppe Mazzagatti. The 82-year-old mobster is currently serving a life sentence at home for murder.

Tiny Oppido Mamertina, with a population of only 5,000 people, is at the heart of a grand clan called ‘Ndrangheta, which Mazzagatti heads.

Among the worshipers were the city’s mayor, clergy and dozens of Oppido Mamertina families.

Francesco Milito, the bishop of Oppido-Palmi Diocese in southern Italy, immediately condemned the unholy procession, promising to take “measures” against those who initiated taking the church procession to the Mafioso’s doorstep, thus challenging the authority of the Pope.

Milito decided to ban all religious parade in Calabria for an indefinite period of time, reported Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

"This is a gesture of caution, an invitation to the reflection and silence that we need right now. This is an act of love for our church," Milito told local clergy, AFP reported. ...

http://rt.com/news/171960-italy-mafia-bishop-parade/
 
The Vatican is undertaking a new initiative to disengage BVM veneration from being exploited to insinuate positive attributions for the Mafia.
Vatican Addresses the Mafia's Latest Hostage: The Virgin Mary

The Vatican is establishing a new department that will try to disassociate the reverence of the Virgin Mary with Italian organised crime. ...

Mafia groups have for more than a century misused the figure of the Virgin Mary, one of the most important biblical characters and symbols in Catholicism, to bolster their legitimacy.

The new department at the Pontifical International Marian Academy, the Vatican's premiere academy for Mariology, the part of Christian theology dealing with the mother of Jesus Christ, now wants to put an end to it.

In a letter to Father Stefano Cecchin, the President of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, Pope Francis welcomed the move, saying it aimed to free the Madonna from “superstructures, powers or conditioning that does not correspond to the Gospel criteria of justice, liberty, honesty, and solidarity.”

Mafia groups have hijacked the Madonna’s veneration in order to present themselves as having God on their side.

Famously, the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Polsi, a Catholic shrine in the Calabrian mountains has been used for over a century by the ‘Ndranghetta to host their ‘Crimini’ or councils, and in many Calabrian towns, Marian processions will often take detours to honor the home of the local mafia boss.

“It’s not religion! It’s superstition,” Father Stefano Cecchin told Vatican News. The ‘Ndranghetta and other mafia groups use the trappings of Catholicism “to teach the people that God is with them. So they also want to use people’s religious feelings not to lead them to be free, but slaves.” ...

FULL STORY: https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13038-vatican-addresses-the-mafia-s-latest-hostage-the-virgin-mary
 
I do know that, in the resurgence of Glasgow from the 1980s onwards, priests preached against the then prevalent gang culture and were supported by the centre in resisting requests to bless certain "undertakings".

There was trouble, some priests had to be moved but it worked and that link in the popular mind isn't there any more. I'm sure there's a few on each side of sectarianism but it's not the problem it once was.
 
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