The Bishop
of Rome has embarked on a visit to an Italian city rattled by organized crime.
Concerns for the pontiff's safety in Naples were paramount after he excommunicated
mafia members last year.
Deutsche Welle, 21 March 2015
After
visiting the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, tens of thousands of people greeted
Pope Francis on Saturday as he headed into the stronghold of the Camorra, the
local mafia. Amid tight security, the pontiff is set to visit prisoners, the
needy and young people.
Francis
arrived in the poor, dangerous Scampia neighborhood in a popemobile and was
immediately surrounded by a crowd of children and young people, two of whom
managed to snap a selfie with the pope.
"Corruption
stinks, corrupt society stinks," he told the Neapolitans. "We all
have the potential to be corrupt and to slip into criminality." Last year,
the pope declared that that the mafia embodied "the adoration of
evil" and excommunicated all unrepentant mafia members.
Scampia is
infamous as the site of a turf war between different clans of the Camorra, as
described in the bestselling book and TV series "Gomorrah.
"See
to it that evil is not the last word. It has to be hope," Francis told the
crowd of several thousand.
Local
authorities expected up to 800,000 to come out to see the pope throughout his
one-day visit, which will include a Mass in the historic Piazza del Plesbiscito
and a visit to the overcrowded Poggio Reale prison, which holds 2,500 in a
facility built for 1,400.
He will
have lunch with 90 of the inmates, including transsexuals, homosexuals, and
AIDS sufferers, according to Catholic television channel TV2000. The pontiff
will wrap up his visit with a seafront concert of Neapolitan songs performed by
local children.
Safety
concerns
Heightening
security surrounded the pope, as he earned the ire of organized crime with his
fiery statements last year. On top of possible grudges from gangsters, the
"Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group threatened Francis following his
condemnation of their brutal actions in Syria and Iraq.
With any
trip outside the Vatican is treated as a possible assassination threat, 3,000 extra
policemen were deployed throughout Naples on Saturday. This includes snipers on
rooftops along the route of the pope's visit.
es/sms (AFP, Reuters)
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