A Fearless Pope Francis Declares War on the Mafia

Pope Francis visited Calabria in southern Italy last Saturday and dropped a bombshell. Calling the practices of the Italian 'Ndrangheta crime group the “adoration of evil,” Pope Francis said the Calabria Mafiosi “are excommunicated” from God and the Catholic Church. The comments came in his outdoor address to more than 100,000 people : “Those who in their lives follow this path of evil, as Mafiosi do, are not in communion with God. They are excommunicated. This evil must be fought against, it must be pushed aside. We must say no to it,” Francis said, promising that the Vatican would make every effort to combat Mafia activity. Francis condemned 'Ndrangheta as the “adoration of evil and contempt of the common good.” The pontiff sent a message directly to the mob : “Power, the money you have now from your many dirty dealings, from your many Mafia crimes, is blood money, it is power that is stained with blood, and you will not be able to take it with you to the next life. Repent, there is stil time, so as not to end up in hell.” ~~~~~ Now, in the 21st century, the spectacle of a Pope excommunicating evildoers may seem quaint. But don't be fooled. Pope Francis has made a serious frontal attack against a major criminal organization that is the scourge of southern Italy. 'Ndrangheta, centered in Calabria, has become the most powerful syndicate of Italy. Although tied to the Sicilian Mafia, 'Ndrangheta operates independently and is believed to make its money from drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering. Its activities are equal to least 3% of Italy's GDP, with a revenue of 53 billion Euros annually, according to a confidential report made by the US Consul General in Naples that was revealed by Wikileaks. 'Ndrangheta's international links, especially with Latin America, have helped them dominate global cocaine trade. Nicola Gratteri, a prosecutor tracing the organization's international reach, told the Guardian newspaper that 80% of cocaine in Europe is smuggled by Calabrian mobsters. Enzo Macri from the National Antimafia Directorate says 'Ndrangheta has perhaps 10,000 members and represents the “globalisation” of Italian organised crime. Colombians would rather deal with the Calabrians,” says Macri. “They are much more reliable. They don't talk. And they pay on time.” ~~~~~ So, Pope Francis has hit a major blow at a large criminal economic system. It is a big deal that the Pope has told 'Ndrangheta they have excommunicated themselves from the Catholic Church. Barring the mobsters from membership and participation in the Church is personal for the Mafiosi. But remember, Pope Francis wasn't formally excommunicating all Mafiosi, Vatican spokesman Reverend Ciro Benedettini clarified - that's a legal process. Francis' cut was deeper. In the unscripted comments, the Pope suggested to mobsters that they should refrain from taking part in the sacraments, and also attempted to "isolate Mafiosi within their own communities," Benedettini said, an indication that the Catholic Church does not consider them "uomini d'onore," or "men of honor." Southern Italy's mobsters are a 'pious' bunch - overwhelmingly active Catholics, who use religious celebrations as an important part of their public image and local legitimacy. Religion offers the Mafia a way to bind their organizations together, and gives them the feeling that they are extorting and killing in the name of a noble cause. Pope Francis took a meat axe to such posturing. ~~~~~ A prominent anti-Mafia prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, recently told an Italian newspaper that the 'Ndrangheta was "getting very nervous" about the Pope's push for financial transparency at the Vatican Bank, and "will seriously consider" taking him out for potentially damaging changes to Mafia money laundering operations - it was business, a much likelier reason for the 'Ndrangheta to target Pope Francis. He wouldn't be the first pontiff to warn the Mafia of eternal punishment. In 1993, Pope John Paul II traveled to Sicily with a message for the Sicilian Mafiosi : "You will one day face the justice of God." The Cosa Nostra didn't try to kill John Pau II, but it did apparently respond by bombing several Roman churches a few months later, including the Basilica of St. John Lateran, his parish church in his role as Bishop of Rome. That reaction to Pope John Paul's relatively mild rebuke lends some credence to fears of a Mafia hit after Pope Francis' frank condemnation. And the Mafia isn't above killing prominent figures or men of the cloth, either. In 1993 Cosa Nostra hit men murdered Reverend Pino Puglisi outside his Palermo church for telling his parishoners to speak out against the Mafia. In 1994, Reverend Giuseppe Diana was gunned down after testifying about the Naples-based Camorra mob, and threatening to refuse communion for Mafiosi. In 1992, the Mafia killed crusading organized crime prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Of course, it's relatively unlikely that the 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra, Camorra, or other Mafia groups would try to kill the Pope for generally excommunicating them. Parish priests in Calabria and Sicily will probably still serve the Eucharist to mobsters, who can't really think they're in good standing with their God anyway. ~~~~~ Dear readers, I don't want to unduly alarm you about Pope Francis' safety. He is well-protected, despite his famous plunges into crowds and refusal to use bulletproof shielding on his popemobile. Besides, the Mafia depends on the cooperation and goodwill of the communities that support them. And southern Italian communities are very Catholic. Killing a Pope, especially a very popular one, could cause a violent backlash against all Mafiosi. If the Mafia were to take the grave step of taking a hit out on the Pope, it would probably be because of money or another existential threat to the criminal enterprise, not the wounded egos or piety of mobsters. Something like Pope Francis' efforts to reform the Vatican Bank, or Institute for Religious Works, are reportedly a threat to the Mafia. In November, John Dickie, a London university professor who specializes in the Mafia, downplayed the idea of a Mafia hit : "The Mafias rarely kill without first carrying out a cost-benefit analysis. Even a rudimentary projection of the likely consequences of a hit on the head of the Catholic Church would show it to be a catastrophic own goal." But in the interview in the Il Quotidiano newspaper, Gratteri, the prosecutor, who lives under constant police protection for his own anti- Mafia work, said the Pope should be cautious. “If the godfathers can find a way to stop him, they will seriously consider it,” Gratteri said. “Those who have up until now profited from the influence and wealth drawn from the Church are getting very nervous.  For many years, the Mafia has laundered money and made investments with the complicity of the Church.” Even so, a much more probable scenario is that Pope Feancis will carry on reforming the Church's finances, while the dirty money is spirited away out of the Vatican Bank. But Francis will undoubtedly pursue the Mafia. His courageously righteous Jesuit soul would not have it otherwise.