Pope Francis has warned the Italian Mafia that they will end up in hell if they do not change their lives and stop doing evil.
He made these remarks during a prayer vigil in Rome for victims of the Mafia.
“Men and women of the Mafia, please change your lives, convert, stop doing evil,” the Pope said.
“I ask on my knees and for your own good.”
“This life you have now, it will not give you pleasure, it will not give you joy, it will not give you happiness,” the Pope said.
“The power, the money you have now from so many dirty deals, from so many Mafia crimes, blood-stained money, blood-stained power – you will not be able to take that with you to the other life.”
“There is still time not to end up in hell, which awaits you if you continue on this road,” Pope Francis continued.
“You had a papa and a mamma. Think of them, weep a little and convert.”
Every year since 1996, the Italian anti-Mafia group Libera has observed March 21, in memory of innocent victims of organised crime.
This was the first time a pope has participated in this event.
According to the group, the approximately 700 people gathered with Pope Francis in a Rome church this year represented the families of an estimated 15,000 victims across Italy.
The Pope listened for about 45 minutes, head bowed and hands folded in prayer, as members of the congregation recited the names of people killed by the Mafia.
Francis made special reference to a recent attack near Taranto, in which three people – two adults and a toddler – were shot dead in an apparent Mafia hit.
“Let us pray together to ask the strength to move ahead,” the Pope said, “to be not discouraged but to continue to struggle against corruption.”
In 1993, Pope John Paul II urged the Mafia to “convert” and warned them that judgment day was coming.
Two months later, two Roman churches were damaged in bomb attacks amid a wave of violence.
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News category: World.
