During his usual audience after the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis denounced the "mafia" for "exploiting the pandemic" and invited Christians to "renew" their "commitment against the mafia."
Breitbart reported that the Pope slammed the mafia for exploiting the pandemic to get rich. The media outlet said that the Pope, over the years, has been speaking against the mafia and has even compared it to abortionists.
"Dear brothers and sisters, today in Italy we celebrate the Day of remembrance and commitment in memory of the innocent victims of the mafia. The mafia are present in various parts of the world and, exploiting the pandemic, they are enriching themselves through corruption," Pope Francis revealed as per the transcript of his message in the Vatican website.
"Saint John Paul II denounced their 'culture of death', and Benedict XVI condemned them as 'ways of death'," he pointed out, quoting from his predecessors.
"These structures of sin, mafia structures, contrary to Christ's Gospel, exchange faith with idolatry," he stressed. "Today let us remember all the victims and let us renew our commitment against the mafia."
Breitbart cited that in 2014 during a pastoral visit to Cassano all'Jonio in Calabra, Italy, the Pope said that those who engage in the mafia and other organized crime are "excommunicated" because what they do is an "adoration of evil."
"Those who follow this evil path in life, such as members of the mafia, are not in communion with God: they are excommunicated!" The Pope said during the homily of the Holy Mass held at Piana di Sibari on June 21, 2014.
The Pope, during the said Holy Mass, was speaking about the "adoration of money" that took the place of the "adoration of the Lord," which he said is a "pathway" that "leads to sin to personal interest and exploitation" and those that do so become "adorers of evil" since they live in violence and dishonesty. He called it a "'ndrangheta," which means an "adoration of evil and contempt for the common good". He called on the need to fight such evil and to cast it out, something each one should say "no" to.
The same thing goes for abortion, which should be said "no" to being an organized crime based on the statements of the Pope. Breitbart highlighted in its June 1 report that the Pope compared abortion to the Mafia because like its members who "take out" a person when the person gets in their way, abortion does the same.
Speaking in a meeting with a group of gravely ill children and their families held in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae on May 29, 2015, the Pope was speaking on the different miseries children experience and spoke about abortion and how "never is a problem resolved by discarding a person," which he attributed as similar to the "Mafia rulebook" that states if "there's a problem let's just get rid of it" by violence as the organization is known for.
In similar news, The Guardian previously reported that Italy began last January the biggest trial against 'Ndrangheta, which a powerful mafia who has 350 high officials and politicians as members. The trial was held in high security in a 1,000-capacity caged courtroom in Lamezie Terme in Calabria, Italy as there are 900 witnessess testifying. The Guardian said it is the biggest trial against the mafia in 30 years.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation website, the mafia has arms in the United States which began in 1881 through the migration of Giuseppe Esposito, who is a Sicilian Mafia member.
