Originally posted by WellHung
The mafia is gay. mafiosos are gay. It's a pathetic brainwashing and only a fool would believe these 'Made Men'. It's discussed too much… it's portrayed too much in movies… and the people who participate in it have no value for their own health and livelihood. The Faggots kiss each other on the cheek …pretend to be family….. and then snitch on each other or shoot each other once they become the least bit of a liability. So fucking lame & transparent.
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO MEMBERS OF THE ITALIAN ANTIMAFIA PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION
Clementine Hall
Thursday, 21 September 2017
Honourable Deputies and Senators
I am glad to welcome you and I thank the president of the Commission, the Right Honourable Ms. Bindi, for her kind words.
Firstly, I would like to turn my thoughts to all those people who in Italy have paid for their fight against the mafia groups with their lives. I remember, in particular, three magistrates: the Servant of God Rosario Livatino, killed on 21 September 1990; Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, killed twenty five years ago along with their security escorts.
As I prepared for this meeting, several Gospel scenes came to mind, in which we would have no difficulty in recognising the signs of that moral crisis that people and institutions are going through today. The truth of Jesus’ words still remains valid today: “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mk 7: 20-23).
The starting point is always the heart of man, his relations and his attachments. We will never be able to be sufficiently vigilant over this abyss, where the person is exposed to the temptations of opportunism, deceit and fraud, made more dangerous by the refusal to question it. When one closes oneself in self-sufficiency it is easy to arrive at self-satisfaction and the claim to be a law to oneself. It is also the sign of deviant politics, twisted to serve partisan interests and murky agreements. Then one reaches the point of suffocating appeals to the conscience, of normalising evil, of confusing truth with lies and exploiting the role of public responsibility one holds.
Authentic politics, which we recognise as an eminent form of charity, works instead by ensuring a future of hope and promoting the dignity of every person. Precisely for this reason the fight against the mafia is felt to be a priority, inasmuch as it steals the common good, removing hope and dignity from the people.
For this purpose, it becomes decisive to oppose oneself in every way to the grave problem of corruption which, with disdain for the general interest, represents a fertile group in which the mafias engage and develop. Corruption always finds a way to justify itself, presenting itself as the “normal” condition, the solution for those who are “cunning”, a feasible way of reaching one’s objectives. It has as contagious and parasitical nature, since it is not nurtured by the good it produces but by what it subtracts and steals. It is a poisonous root that distorts healthy competition and deters investment. In the end, corruption is a habitusbuilt on the idolatry of money and the commercialisation of human dignity, which is why it must be combated with measures no less incisive than those envisaged in the fight against the mafias.
Fighting against the mafias means not only repressing. It also means reclaiming, transforming, and building, and this involves commitment at two levels. The first is political, through greater social justice, as the mafias find it easy to offer themselves as an alternative system in territories where rights and opportunities are missing: work, housing, education and healthcare.
The second level of engagement is economic, through the correction or cancellation of those mechanisms that generate inequality and poverty everywhere. Today we can no longer talk about combating the mafias without raising the enormous problem of a financial system that is now sovereign over democratic rules, as a result of which criminal organisations invest and multiply the already enormous profits deriving from their activities: drugs, weapons, human trafficking, toxic waste disposal, the influencing of contracts for major works, gambling and rackets.
This dual level, political and economic, presuppose another, no less essential, which is the construction of a new civil conscience, and this alone is able to lead to true liberation from the mafias. It is truly necessary to educate, and to educate oneself, in constant vigilance over oneself and the context in which one lives, developing a more nuanced perception of the phenomena of corruption and working towards a new way of being citizens, including care and responsibility for others and for the common good.
Italy must be proud of having put legislation into effect against the mafia, involving the state and citizens, administrations and associations, the lay sphere and the Catholic and religious worlds, in a broad sense. The assets confiscated from the mafias and recovered for social use represent, in this respect, authentic workshops for life. In these contexts young people study, learn knowledge and responsibilities, and find work and fulfilment. In these also the elderly, poor and disadvantaged may find welcome, service and dignity.
Finally, it must not be forgotten that the fight against the mafias is bound with the protection and valorisation of witnesses of justice, people who expose themselves to grave risk by choosing to report the violence of those against whom they testify. A way must be found to enable an upstanding person, who nonetheless belongs to mafia families or contexts, to exit without being subject to revenge and retaliation. There are many women, especially mothers, who seek to do so, refusing criminal logic and with the desire to ensure a different future for their children. It is necessary to help them, certainly respecting the ways of justice, but also their dignity as people who choose good and life.
Dear brothers and sisters, urging you to continue with dedication and a sense of duty the task entrusted to you for the good of all, I invoke God’s blessing upon you. May you be comforted by the certainty of being accompanied by He Who is rich in mercy; and may the awareness that He does not tolerate violence and abuse make you tireless workers of justice. Thank you.
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE MEETING ORGANIZED BY THE
PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF MARY ON THE OCCASION OF THE
30th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE
ANTI-MAFIA INVESTIGATIVE DIRECTORATE (D.I.A.)
Clementine Hall
Wednesday, 23 June 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I am pleased to meet you today and to share, along with all those who form part of the Institutions you represent and your families, the thirtieth anniversary of your work in the service of the people. I thank the president of the Pontifical Academy of Mary for his words. Fraternal co-existence and social friendship are possible where there are “homes” that put into practice the “pact between generations”, conserving in a synodal way the “healthy roots” of those who believed and believe in the beauty of being together which is developed through dialogue, in kindness and in support of justice for all. Thanks to these “homes”, it is possible to build, like one big family open to the common good, able to spread a culture of legality, respect and safety of people and also of the environment.
You are all actively engaged in the building of these “homes”: they act as mild and strong antibodies against vested interests, corruption, greed, and violence, which are the DNA of mafia and criminal organizations. Mafias win when fear takes hold of life, which is why they take over mind and heart, stripping people of their dignity and freedom from within. You who are here are working to ensure that fear cannot win: you are therefore a support for change, a glimmer of light in the midst of darkness, a testimony to freedom. I encourage you to continue on this path: be strong and bring hope, especially among the weakest.
When security and legality are lacking, the first to be harmed are indeed the most fragile, and all those who in various ways can consider themselves the “last”. All these are the modern slaves on which mafia economies are built; they are the rejected that they need to pollute social life and the environment itself. Therefore, I urge you to stand with these people, victims of oppression, seeking to prevent and combat crime. It is also important to resist mafia cultural colonialism, through research, study and educational activities, aimed at demonstrating that civil, social and environmental progress stems not from corruption and privilege, but rather from justice, freedom, honesty and solidarity. In addition, mafia thinking enters like cultural colonization, to the point that becoming mafioso is part of the culture, as if it were the path one must take. No! This will not do. This is a road to slavery. Your work does much to avoid this: thank you!
Your work, delicate and risky, deserves to be appreciated and supported. For my part, I encourage you to continue with enthusiasm, despite the presence in the social – and also ecclesial – fabric of some grey areas where it is difficult to perceive a clear separation from old ways of acting, erroneous and even immoral. It is necessary for everyone, at every level, to embark decisively on the path of justice and honesty. And where there is connivance and opacity, the causes must be studied, leaving the right space to a healthy “shame”, without which change is not possible, and mutual collaboration for the common good remains a chimera.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you, therefore, for what you are and what you do. Do not tire of standing beside the people with tenderness and compassion; always be promotors of this love for the people, for their life and future, which represents the synthesis of your very ideals, knowing that this love is capable of generating new relationships and giving life to a more just order, through “homes” and “families” enlivened by the leaven of equality, justice and fraternity.
I entrust you to the maternal protection of Mary, Mother of Jesus, a woman of faith and hope. May she guide you in this meaningful mission, so you may bear witness with joy to the Gospel of life. I accompany you all with my prayer and blessing, which I heartily invoke on you and your families, and I ask you to pray for me. Thank you.
