The Vatican yesterday defended Pope Benedict's decision to avoid direct condemnation of organized crime during a trip to a southern area infested by the Camorra, one of its most ruthless manifestations.The Pope made a day-long trip to say mass and the rosary at a sanctuary in modern Pompeii.
The city sits adjacent to the ruins of its ancient ancestor buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
In his speeches, Benedict XVI did not use the words organized crime or Camorra, as the local mafia is known. He made only an oblique reference, saying prayer is "a spiritual weapon in the struggle against evil and every form of violence."
Questioned by reporters, a Vatican spokesperson said the Pope intentionally avoided the word Camorra.
"The trip has a strictly spiritual dimension and it was out of respect for the fact that most people from this area are honest and not members of organized crime," the spokesperson said.
"The Pope preferred suggesting the positive energy through which the Camorra can be defeated," he said, noting the pontiff had already spoken out against organized crime during a visit to Naples in 2007. Pompeii is about 25 kilometres to the southeast.
Local newspaper, Il Mattino, wrongly predicted the Roman Catholic leader would make appeals against organized crime and in support of jobs in an area of high unemployment.
Modern Pompeii is one of a string of bleak, rundown towns, where the Camorra has a strong presence, in the Naples hinterland.
The Camorra makes its money in extortion rackets, drug trafficking, and smuggling. It recently was the subject of hit movie Gomorra, based on the bestselling book of the same name by Roberto Saviano.
The title Gomorra is a play on the word Camorra and the Italian spelling of Gomorrah, the sinful city God destroyed along with Sodom in the Old Testament.
Last week, Saviano, 29, said he would flee Italy to try to lead a normal life, citing reports the mob has ordered him killed by Christmas.
He worked in a textile and building firm controlled by the mob to research his book and has been in hiding for two years in response to threats to his life.
It has sold more than a million copies in Italy and has been translated into 42 languages.
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(Source: STC)