(Vatican Radio) "The Mafia is an expression of the culture of death that is opposed to the Gospel." Those were Pope Francis' words to members of the Italian National Antimafia and Antiterrorism Directorate who he received on Monday in the Vatican.Listen: Meeting with the Italian National Antimafia and Antiterrorism directorate in the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis expressed his appreciation for the difficult and risky work they do in the fight against organized crime and terrorism.He told those gathered that society needed to be healed from corruption, extortion, the illegal trafficking of drugs and arms, and the trafficking in human beings, including children.The Pope also commended both groups for their law enforcement activities in collaboration with other states saying that, this work carried out in synergy was important for a secure society.During his address, the Holy Father urged them in particular “to devote every effort especially in comba...
(Vatican Radio) "The Mafia is an expression of the culture of death that is opposed to the Gospel." Those were Pope Francis' words to members of the Italian National Antimafia and Antiterrorism Directorate who he received on Monday in the Vatican.
Listen:
Meeting with the Italian National Antimafia and Antiterrorism directorate in the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis expressed his appreciation for the difficult and risky work they do in the fight against organized crime and terrorism.
He told those gathered that society needed to be healed from corruption, extortion, the illegal trafficking of drugs and arms, and the trafficking in human beings, including children.
The Pope also commended both groups for their law enforcement activities in collaboration with other states saying that, this work carried out in synergy was important for a secure society.
During his address, the Holy Father urged them in particular “to devote every effort especially in combating trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants:” these, he stressed, “are serious crimes that affect the very weakest.”
Those, he said, “who flee their countries because of war, violence and persecution are entitled to find suitable welcome and suitable protection in countries that call themselves civil.”
Pope Francis also spoke about the importance of educational initiatives aimed at the younger generation in a bid to, as he put it, “foster a consciousness of morality”, that wins over evil and promotes a social fabric that is open to the hope of a better world.
Concluding his address, the Holy Father, noting again the directorates’ hazardous work to combat corruption, the Mafia and violence, prayed that the Lord would always give them the strength to continue, and not be discouraged.
The Pope described the Mafia, “as an expression of a culture of death, which is radically opposed to faith and to the Gospel which always promotes life and he prayed that God would touch the hearts of the men and women of the various mafias, so that their lives would be converted and they would cease to do evil.
null / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) released a pair of emergency rules that it said are aimed at combating "misinformation" and a "deeply dishonest scare campaign" by the Biden administration about the state's new six-week pro-life law. The rules, published on May 1, establish guidance for lifesaving measures and clarify that certain procedures, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies, are not considered abortion and remain legal under the Florida Heartbeat Protection Act, which went into effect on Wednesday. This comes amid significant criticism over the state's pro-life law that prohibits abortions on women after six weeks of pregnancy except for in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. The new AHCA rules further clarify those exceptions. "The agency finds there is an immediate danger to th...
Oviedo Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes accused the government of focusing "in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church." / Credit: Archdiocese of OviedoACI Prensa Staff, May 2, 2024 / 18:50 pm (CNA)."They have done it again. It is a kind of obsessive mantra every time they need a smokescreen to distract from the real problems we have and to which they so clumsily and insidiously apply their tortuous governance."That is how the archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, began a letter released this week titled "The Accusing Rattle" in which he responds to the socialist government's announcement of an exclusive plan to address sexual and power abuses committed within the Catholic Church.In the opinion of the prelate, the country's executive "has tried to focus in a biased and manipulative way on the problem of pedophilia as something attributable only to the Catholic Church, which represents an exclusive...
Pope Francis meets with 300 priests taking part in the World Meeting of Parish Priests on May 2, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 12:41 pm (CNA).Pope Francis published a letter on Thursday addressed to all parish priests in the world with his advice for building a missionary Church in which all the baptized share in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel."Parish communities increasingly need to become places from which the baptized set out as missionary disciples and to which they return, full of joy, in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness," Pope Francis wrote in the letter published on May 2.The pope presented the letter to 300 priests participating in the Synod on Synodality's "World Meeting of Parish Priests" during an audience at the Vatican, saying that their meeting is "an opportunity to remember in my prayers all of the parish priests in the world to whom I address these words with great affection."P...