The Telegraph (British) website reports today (October 3, 2010) that Pope Benedict XVI denounced the "evil" of Italy's organized crime, as he celebrated an open-air mass before tens of thousands of pilgrims in the heartland of Sicily's Mafia.
Benedict's first visit to the island since becoming pope in 2005 raised hopes among campaigners that he will help their struggle against the ever-pervasive Cosa Nostra.
"I am here to give you a strong incentive to not be afraid to testify clearly to human and Christian values, so deeply rooted in faith and in the history of this land and its people," he said.
He called on Sicilians -- dogged by Mafia extortion and intimidation -- to be "ashamed of evil, which offends God and man" and for the effects of organized crime which "injures the civil and religious community" to be brought into the open.
Organizers said around 250,000 people attended the mass in bright sunshine in Palermo's giant Foro Italico Square, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Palermo is considered to be the city in which the headquarters of Italy's Mafia is located.
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